LVMS 17TH ANNUAL KOBALT "400" Official Race Results and Notes

Las Vegas proved to be another gamble gone flat for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had a commanding car to lead the pack with, but in the end, came up short on fuel for the checkered flag, finishing second.  And it was a masterful move on Brad Keselowksi's part to come at him hard in the last 20 laps, forcing him to use a splash more fuel than he might have if Dale Jr. wasn't pressed like that.

Be it as it may, Brad Keselowski used good race tactics and got himself the win, making himself the 3rd driver to earn himself a berth in the Chase with a win.  Dale Jr still managed a second place finish, showing that early on in this 2014 season, he's a force to be reckoned with.

Brad Keselowski won the KOBALT 400, his 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. Prior to the green flag to start the event, the following car(s) will drop to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: #9, 30 (Engine Change) and #26 (Back-up Car).

NEXT EVENT: March 16, 2014 - 54th Annual Food City 500, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN (266.50 Miles) (500 Laps)

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Official Results

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES OFFICIAL RACE REPORT No. 3
17TH ANNUAL KOBALT "400"
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Las Vegas, NV - March 9, 2014
1.5-Mile Oval
267 Laps - 400.5 Miles Purse: $6,496,304

Pos		Driver	Laps	Points	Status	Laps Led
1	-	Brad Keselowski	267	48	Running	53
2	-	Dale Earnhardt Jr	267	43	Running	51
3	-	Paul Menard	267	42	Running	6
4	-	Joey Logano	267	41	Running	44
5	-	Carl Edwards	267	40	Running	1
6	-	Jimmie Johnson	267	39	Running	34
7	-	Ryan Newman	267	37	Running
8	-	Kasey Kahne	267	36	Running
9	-	Jeff Gordon	267	35	Running
10	-	Matt Kenseth	267	35	Running	2
11	-	Kyle Busch	267	34	Running	52
12	-	Denny Hamlin	267	33	Running	1
13	-	Brian Vickers	267	31	Running
14	-	Martin Truex Jr	267	30	Running
15	-	Jamie McMurray	267	29	Running
16	-	Austin Dillon #	267	28	Running
17	-	Jeff Burton	267	27	Running
18	-	AJ Allmendinger	267	26	Running
19	-	Kyle Larson #	266	25	Running
20	-	Trevor Bayne	266	0	Running
21	-	Danica Patrick	266	23	Running
22	-	Greg Biffle	266	22	Running
23	-	Clint Bowyer	266	21	Running
24	-	Marcos Ambrose	266	20	Running
25	-	Aric Almirola	264	19	Running
26	-	Kurt Busch	264	18	Running
27	-	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	264	17	Running
28	-	Casey Mears	264	16	Running
29	-	Michael Annett #	264	15	Running
30	-	David Gilliland	264	14	Running
31	-	Justin Allgaier #	264	13	Running
32	-	David Ragan	263	12	Running
33	-	Tony Stewart	263	11	Running
34	-	Reed Sorenson	262	10	Running
35	-	Ryan Truex #	261	9	Running
36	-	Cole Whitt #	261	8	Running
37	-	Alex Bowman #	259	7	Running
38	-	Timmy Hill	258	6	Running
39	-	Travis Kvapil	253	5	Running
40	-	Parker Kligerman #	240	4	Running
41	-	Kevin Harvick	237	4	Running	23
42	-	Josh Wise	212	2	Running
43	-	Michael McDowell	141	1	Engine

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Failed to qualify: (5) #35 Blake Koch; #40 Landon Cassill; #77 Dave Blaney; #87 Joe Nemechek; #44 J.J. Yeley

TIME OF RACE:2 hours, 35 minutes, 24 seconds       AVERAGE SPEED:154.633 mph      MARGIN OF VICTORY:1.53 second(s)

COORS LIGHT POLE AWARD:  Joey Logano (193.278 mph. 27.939 secs.)

SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE RACE:  Austin Dillon

Caution Flags: 4 cautions for 18 laps. [Beneficiary in Brackets]
18-22 (Fluid On The Track [30]);
46-49 (Debris Turn 3 [83]);
156-160 (Debris Backstretch [1]);
222-225 (Debris Frontstretch [47]).

Lap Leaders:  21 lead changes among 10 drivers.
Logano 1-19, Keselowski 20-21, Logano 22-46,
Johnson 47-76, Ky. Busch 77-95, Earnhardt Jr 96-97,
Ky. Busch 98-129, Harvick 130-139, Ky. Busch 140,
Keselowski 141, Kenseth 142-143, Harvick 144-156,
Keselowski 157-195, Johnson 196-198, Menard 199-204,
Johnson 205, Earnhardt Jr 206-210, Edwards 211,
Hamlin 212, Keselowski 213-222, Earnhardt Jr 223-266, Keselowski 267.

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NACSAR 'Kobalt Tools 400' Mini Recap

Today's race was from Las Vegas, the Kobalt Tools 400, in the desert of Nevada.

Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the pack to the race starting green flag and by the end of the first lap, Dale Jr. had himself the lead, which he held onto for 70 laps.

Cautions today included a

• Lap 44 incident with Timmy Hill.
• 73:  A David Reutimann spin.
• 127: Travis Kvapil blew an engine.
• 204 & 229: debris caution.
• 244: Landon Cassill blew an engine.
• 255: Kurt Busch RR tire blew, sending him into the inside wall.
• 259: Kyle Busch LR tire, solo spin.

That that said,

Brendan Gaughan  hit the wall early... no caution, but hard enough to mess his day up.

Despite Dale Jr. pulling away and leading the entire first bit of the race, he had a scare when he started pitting on lap 44/5 when the caution came out... but he got back out in time and retained the lead for the restart.

On the restart, Dale Jr. again led them to speed...

On lap 71, car Nos 88, 17, 29, 16 and 14 were the front runners.

The lap 78 restart found Dale Jr. back in the pack for the first time today, in 16th after taking four tires while many took two!

The front runners included Kenseth, Harvick, Johnson, Stewart and Biffle.

A bit later Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Kenseth...

With around the 50 to go mark, we had Stewart, Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth lead the pack to speed.

With 38 to go, we had a caution and the field piled onto the pits.  Two or four tires?  If any!?  Leaders were topping off only and everyone was ready for the last dash of the day.  (I thought)

But one more caution pulled everyone together for a restart but this restart cursed Brad Keselowski which was a shame... it looked like he might have won this race... but he had some sort of fuel issue.

But now the race looked like it was going to come down to Tony Stewart (leading) and Jimmie Johnson on his tail.  (I wonder if Jimmie might have been saying "Here kitty, kitty, kitty"?)

But then as they got going, the No. 51 car of Kurt Busch drove-piled the wall after his RR tire went away, bringing everyone back together and cooling those tires back down down.  Again.

(I don't think Kurt's having fun yet this season.) 

Again... with 9 to go, Stewart led them aggressively to the line and pulled away while Johnson spun his tires.

AND THEN KYLE BUSCH spins and lands it in the grass...  LR tire flat.

OK, once again, with feeling!

With 4 to go...  Stewart, Johnson, Biffle, Kenseth, Edwards... and Edwards shot down onto the apron to pass the pack and Kenseth gets into the outside wall... the closing few laps Johnson covered Stewart's butt like a blanket, trying to pass him.

With one to go, Johnson can't quite get there and Tony Stewart won the Kobalt Tools 400, Jimmie Johnson finished 2nd, followed by the 16, 39, 99, 16, 27, 1, 21 & 88 cars.

It was good to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. perform well in clean air but once he got in dirty air, he seemed to have a few more issues.

Plus, I was keeping an eye on Dale Jr. during restarts.  On SiriusXM radio, a caller had said earlier in the week that Jr sucked at restarts.  It seemed to be a bit of an iffy talent of his on this day.

But there you have it...  a snarky race recap from NASCAR Bits and Pieces on the Kobalt Tools 400.
NASCAR: Kobalt 400 results - unofficial

Now... we all wait until Tuesday when we'll hear about the No. 48 team appeal decision!  See ya there!

=-Bruce

The NASCAR Nationwide Sereis 'Sam's Town 300' Race

The NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway started with Elliott Sadler leading the pack early in the race but the crowd thinned out, as they usually do.

What was noticeable was the bounce the cars were experiencing going into and through turns one and two and into the back-stretch.  Dang, when did the track get that bumpy?

As you might know, I'm more or less chronicling the experiences of Austin Dillon and Danica Patrick as they tackle their first full season in the Nationwide Series division!  Check it out...

In the early going, (less than ten laps in), Austin Dillon was 5th, Kyle Busch 12th and Danica Patrick was 14th.

The first caution around lap 10 was for a solo spin.  Later on, Kyle Busch was the solo-car spin.

Lap 40ish saw Dillon around 5th still and Patrick in 19th.

Joey Gase pulled out the third caution...

Mean while, in the garage, Kyle Busch had smacked the wall during his solo spin earlier and was still in there on lap 67 getting pieces and parts fixed.

Lap 70ish, Dillon was 7th, Hornish Jr 11th, Patrick was 16th.

Jennifer Jo Cobb had a caution come from her solo tire-smoker.

Brian Scott WAS 6th, but then near midway of the race, spun it up into the outside wall.  Hard.

The lap 100 restart saw Dillon 6th, Patrick 10th, K. Wallace 13th.  (Kenny only has sponsor money for a few more races before his team has to fold it up.)

Lap 130 is when we learned that Brad Keselowski was having fueling issues and he ran out of gas under green... coasting to his pit stall.  And then he could not get it restarted after pitting.

A debris caution took place just short of the 150 lap mark.

The lap 160 restart had Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leading the pack, Austin Dillon restarting 3rd, Danica Patrick 6th and Sam Hornish Jr was 9th.

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With around 30ish laps to go, there were a few late pit stops, Patrick being one of them, taking her away from being near the top-5.

As the laps wore down, it was apparent that unless the hand of fate reached down and intervened, it was Stenhouse Jr.'s race... 

At the finish, it was Stenhouse Jr. 5 seconds in front of Mark Martin, then Elliott Sadler, Trevor Bayne and Gaughan in the No. 33.

Austin Dillon finished 7th across the start/finish line, Sam Hornish Jr 9th, and Danica Patrick pulled off a 12th place finish.  Check it out at NASCAR.com for more Results.

-Bruce

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 'Kobalt Tools 400' TV Times & Some Basic Stats

This weekend has NASCAR visiting Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 15th time for the Kobalt Tools 400 and hopefully, not losing too much money in the process.  At least at the tables!

First up is the TV schedule for the NASCAR weekend (All times noted are ET):

Friday, 3-9

• 3:00 PM First Practice (on Speed)
• 6:30 PM Qualifying - (Speed)

Saturday, 3-10

• 12:30 PM Practice (Speed)
• 3:00 PM Practice (Speed)

Sunday, 3-6-12: 3:00 PM ET The Kobalt Tools 400 live on Fox

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With that said, since 2006, Las Vegas has seen Jimmie Johnson win three races, Carl Edwards winning two and Kyle Busch slipping in there to take one title from the boys.

Kyle has historically enjoyed the pole, having nabbed it twice, brother Kurt, once, and that distinction of winning the pole was also shared with Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, and Matt Kenseth.

Over the last seven races in the Nevada desert, Jimmie Johnson has the best average finish of 10.4th.  (If that's a number!)  But the next few spots of best average finish is hotly contested amongst Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch.

But keep your eyes out for Jeff Gordon & Tony Stewart also.  I say that because if they're not attacked by bad luck, they could be contending for the win, as they are noted as two of the top three who have led the most laps here in Vegas.

Mark Martin has a huge stat in scoring top-10's, having, well, ten of them.  So keep an eye on that "kid."

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As always, thank you for coming by.  I appreciate the visit and hope you like what I've done with the place!

--
NASCAR-Bits-and-Pieces: on Twitter &
come like my page on Facebook .  I could use the company!  LOL.
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A Quick Question About the Vegas Race

Food for thought:

I'm on the bubble about this one though I'm leaning towards the drivers being responsible since they are the consummate professionals, but who's to blame for all the speeding penalties at Vegas last week?

1. NASCAR for limiting track practice, aside from the race weekend?
2. Vegas for moving that cursed limit line?
3. Or the drivers? Shouldn't they have made the appropriate mental adjustments and played it according the the changing playing field? IE: moving line?

There were an awful lot of foul ups last weekend and I sure was surprised, with Jeff Gordon paying a pretty hefty price for his snafu.

As far as track practice goes, wow, I think it's affecting Jr., but then again, it could be something else.

Any thoughts on any of these issues? Anyone? Someone?

Imagine Kyle Busch As Your Best Man?

For some, Kyle Busch is 'Da Man of today. For others, he's 'Da best man for the day!

Check out fans Damon and Heather Landry getting married at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with Kyle Busch looking on as the Best Man... now would that not be cool? Not to mention that awesome wedding picture backdrop!

(Photo Credit: Harry How/Getty Images)

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Tidbits

Here are some tidbits about Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Some History
• The first ever NASCAR race was a NASCAR Camping World Series, West. That was won by Ken Schrader on Nov. 2, 1996.
• The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on March 1, 1998. Mark Martin won that one.
• The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race was on March 16, 1997, won by Jeff Green.
• The first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was won by Jack Sprague on Nov. 3, 1996.


Notebook
• There have been 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Five drivers have participated in all 11 races:
Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
• Eight drivers have poles, led by Dale Jarrett (Who won the inaugural pole), Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte (two each).
• Seven different drivers have won here. Jimmie Johnson has three.
• Only four of the 11 races have been won from a top-10 starting position and none have been won from the pole.
• Four of the 11 races have been won from a starting position outside the top 20.
• The deepest in the field that a race winner has started was 25th, by Matt Kenseth in 2004.
• There has been one green-white-checkered finish at Las Vegas: 2006 (270/267).
• Qualifying has never been canceled at Las Vegas.
• Matt Kenseth has a 9.0 average finish in nine Las Vegas races, the best of any driver with more than three starts. He has been running at the finish in all nine of those races and has finished on the lead lap in eight. Kenseth has also led 438 laps at Las Vegas – 179 more than any other driver.
• Roush Fenway Racing had five drivers finish in the top 10 in the inaugural Las Vegas 400 in 1998. In five of the 11 races, the winner at Las Vegas was driving for Roush at the time: Mark Martin (1998), Jeff Burton (1999 and 2000) and Matt Kenseth (2003 and 2004).


Driver Rating at Las Vegas
Jimmie Johnson - 112.0
Jeff Gordon - 111.4
Kyle Busch - 109.8
Matt Kenseth - 107.8
Greg Biffle - 100.2
Mark Martin - 96.8
Jeff Burton - 95.4
Tony Stewart - 92.9
Carl Edwards - 92.3
Kurt Busch - 89.9
Note: These Driver Ratings are compiled from only the last 4 races, from 2005-2008 races, since the inception of Loop Data.
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Can Kenseth Get His Own Three-Peat?

After winning the first two races of the season, Matt Kenseth joined an exclusive list. Before Matt, a driver won the first two races only four times. The most recent was 1997 when Jeff Gordon won the Daytona 500 and at Rockingham.

Right now, no driver has ever won the first three races of the season.

Among the previous four, only Gordon won the championship in the season that he opened with two consecutive wins.

Kenseth like Vegas. He might have a shot at this 3-peat! He has two wins at Las Vegas (2003-2004) and has led 438 laps there, more than any other driver.

Since 2005, at Las Vegas, Kenseth has a Driver Rating of 107.8, with an Average Running Position of 10.8 and 90 Fastest Laps Run. All those rank in the top five in the series.


Source: NASCAR Media.

RACE LINEUPS

In the BUSCH Series, the top 5 qualifiers are:
Harvick,
Stremme,
Sorenson,
Kurt Busch,
Bowyer.

CUP Series: The qualifying results for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400,
1 Kasey Kahne 9 Dodge 184.856 mph
2 David Stremme 40 Dodge 184.193 mph
3 Elliott Sadler 19 Dodge 183.874 mph
4 Juan Pablo Montoya 42 Dodge 183.188 mph
5 Jeff Burton 31 Chevrolet 182.976 mph
6 Scott Riggs 10 Dodge 182.865 mph
7 Reed Sorenson 41 Dodge 182.822 mph
8 Sterling Marlin 14 Chevrolet 182.525 mph
9 Joe Nemechek 13 Chevrolet 182.266 mph
10 Kurt Busch 2 Dodge 182.020 mph
11 Dave Blaney 22 Toyota 181.775 mph
12 Kyle Busch 5 Chevrolet 181.763 mph
13 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 181.568 mph
14 Mark Martin 01 Chevrolet 181.494 mph
15 Kenny Wallace 78 Chevrolet 181.379 mph
16 Clint Bowyer 07 Chevrolet 181.293 mph
17 Denny Hamlin 11 Chevrolet 181.074 mph
18 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 181.032 mph
19 Paul Menard 15 Chevrolet 180.953 mph
20 Kevin Harvick 29 Chevrolet 180.905 mph
21 David Gilliland 38 Ford 180.892 mph
22 Kyle Petty 45 Dodge 180.886 mph
23 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 180.820 mph
24 J.J. Yeley 18 Chevrolet 180.802 mph
25 Tony Stewart 20 Chevrolet 180.596 mph
26 Martin Truex Jr. 1 Chevrolet 180.542 mph
27 Tony Raines 96 Chevrolet 180.487 mph
28 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8 Chevrolet 180.410 mph
29 Jeff Green 66 Chevrolet 180.307 mph
30 Ward Burton 4 Chevrolet 180.258 mph
31 Aric Almirola 80 Chevrolet 180.174 mph
32 Johnny Sauter 70 Chevrolet 180.156 mph
33 Jamie McMurray 26 Ford 180.090 mph
34 Casey Mears 25 Chevrolet 180.060 mph
35 David Ragan 6 Ford 179.826 mph
35 A.J. Allmendinger 84 Toyota 179.964 mph (DNQ)
36 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 179.635 mph
37 Matt Kenseth 17 Ford 179.462 mph
37 Mike Bliss 49 Dodge 179.778 mph (DNQ)
38 Robby Gordon 7 Ford 179.342 mph
39 Ryan Newman 12 Dodge 179.217 mph
40 Ricky Rudd 88 Ford 179.051 mph
41 Dale Jarrett 44 Toyota 176.869 mph
41 John Andretti 37 Dodge 179.223 mph (DNQ)
42 Jon Wood 21 Ford 175.873 mph
43 Bobby Labonte 43 Dodge N/A
44 Brian Vickers 83 Toyota 179.004 mph (DNQ)
45 David Reutimann 00 Toyota 178.571 mph (DNQ)
46 Jeremy Mayfield 36 Toyota 177.258 mph (DNQ)
48 Brandon Whitt 72 Chevrolet 176.523 mph (DNQ)
50 Kevin Lepage 34 Dodge 175.393 mph (DNQ)
51 Michael Waltrip 55 Toyota 173.422 mph (DNQ)
53 Ken Schrader 47 Ford N/A (DNQ)

(DNQ) - bumped from starting grid by other teams owner points, provisional, etc.
Ken Schrader was bumped in his Woods brothers ride for Jon Wood, their son so he can get in on points. Kenny crashed while qualifying.
Bobby Labonte blew a tire in his qualifying run.
Dale Jarret, once again, in on Champions Provisional.

TONY STEWART does not LIKE THE NEW VEGAS

It seems that Tony thought the old configuration of the Las Vegas track was getting better with each year that had gone by, but track owners said they were responding to fans opinions.

"They screwed up a really nice track" is what Tony has to say,
while Las Vegas general manager Chris Powell says the new 20 degree banking will promote more side by side racing and Tony said that in testing, he didn't see that with the cars that were there when he tested. (The track was at a 12 degree banking).

Bruce note:
I personally hope this reconfiguration works out because I really enjoyed the track as it was. If the proprieters expectations are met, then it would be worth it, and the racing will be exciting to watch, as opposed to the appreciation of how hard a team has to work at getting the set up right through the years and experience.

We as a spectator want more heart pounding action, and we put the racing into the hands of aerodynamics and drafting. Yet with Goodyear going to harder tires and the COT coming around the corner, we probably would have seen this transition without changing a track.

And unfortunately, Bristol is reconfiguring also after this months race. What's next folks, a high banked Martinsville?

Well, we'll see how it turns out after the weekend comes and goes. Is it more exciting, or just the same 'ol results, as teams who lock into the track make quick work of everyone else and the racing is spread out anyway.

UPCOMING EVENT - LAS VEGAS

It's been announced on http://www.lvms.com/ that the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a sellout.

Now lets see if the newly reconfigured track is a hit with the fans!