NASCAR at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

2015 Mar 6 las vegas motor speedway logo

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps)
Sunday, March 8 3:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX, 3 p.m. (ET)
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Distance: 300 miles (200 laps)
Saturday, March 7 4 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250
Martinsville Speedway Distance: 131.5 miles (250 laps)
Saturday, March 28 2:30 p.m. (ET) TV: FOX Sports 1, 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

Car 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
Jimmie Johnson beat NSCS champion Kevin Harvick to the checker flag for win at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, one week after a 5th place showing at Daytona. Johnson now has 71 career wins – five behind Dale Earnhardt for sixth on the all-time list – and owns at least four victories at nine different tracks. He will try to hit the jackpot again in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where he holds the track record with four wins.

Car 24 Jeff Gordon 3M Chevrolet
Jeff Gordon started the season with a bang by winning the pole at his final Daytona 500. Since, then he has not had any luck getting into a late race crashes in the last 2 races. Gordon will attempt to turn around his luck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Sunday’s Kobalt 400. The 43-year-old has competed in all 17 races at the 1.5-mile track and will move ahead of Jeff Burton as the sole leader in starts there.

Car 2 Brad Keselowski Detroit Genuine Parts Ford

Brad Keselowski harnessed his talent, working his way up from a family-owned ride in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series all the way to a Team Penske car that he piloted to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 2012. Now one of NASCAR’s most recognizable superstars, Keselowski will make his 200th career start in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 31-year-old Ford driver will try to make his deuce wild, and show up in Victory Lane for the second straight season as Sin City’s defending race winner. Now in his sixth full-time season on the NSCS circuit, Keselowski boasts 16 wins, 50 top fives, 80 Tops 10s and eight Coors Light Pole Awards.

Car 55 Brian Vickers Aaron’s 60th Anniversary Dream Machine Toyota
Tough. That’s usually one of the first words that comes to mind when describing Brian Vickers. Just three months after undergoing corrective heart surgery, Vickers will make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start of the season in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 31-year-old, who has battled issues with his heart, as well as blood clots in the past, has three career NSCS wins and will race full time for the rest of the season in Michael Waltrip Racing’s Car 55 Toyota. Brett Moffitt, a member of the first-ever NASCAR Next class in 2011, posted an 8th place finish as Vickers’ sub at Atlanta.

Car 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet
Martin Truex Jr. didn’t get his second top-10 finish last year until the 13th race of the season, at Dover, in June. This year, it took the 34-year-old New Jersey native only two races to notch a pair of top 10s. Truex Jr. has been hot out of the gates with a 2nd place finish in the Sprint Unlimited, followed by showings of eighth and sixth at Daytona and Atlanta, respectively. The production from the two-time NASCAR XFINITY champion has earned him the fifth-spot in the final standings – the highest his solo-car Furniture Row Racing team has ascended in its 10 years of existence. On NASCAR’s west coast swing, Truex will try to pilot his Car 34 Furniture Row / Denver Mattress Chevrolet to its first win since Regan Smith drove it to Victory Lane at Darlington in 2011. An added incentive for a west coast Truex victory – Denver, Colorado-based FRR is the NSCS’ only team with headquarters outside of the Carolinas.

NASCAR statement about Kurt Busch:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 5, 2015) – “NASCAR is aware of the Delaware Department of Justice announcement today regarding driver Kurt Busch. As we disclosed Monday, he has accepted the terms and conditions of a reinstatement program and is actively participating in the program. Kurt Busch’s eligibility for reinstatement will continue to be governed by that program and the NASCAR Rule Book, though the elimination of the possibility of criminal charges certainly removes a significant impediment to his reinstatement.”

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NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

Buescher And Dillon Have Risen To The Top
Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher and Richard Childress Racing’s Ty Dillon are tied for the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship standings lead with 83 points each after two races. Buescher and Dillon are cruising eight points ahead of third-place Ryan Reed as the series heads to Las Vegas for the Boyd Gaming 300 on March 7 on FOX Sports 1.

Buescher is having the best start of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career, finishing second at Daytona and following it up with a 4th at Atlanta. His average finish thus far this season is 3.0 and his season-to-date Driver Rating leads the series with a 116.4.

Buescher has started to excel on 1.5 mile tracks, in seven of his last 13 starts on 1.5-mile speedways he has finished in the top-10; including his one start at Las Vegas last season, starting 12th and finishing ninth. Buescher’s pre-race Driver Rating for Las Vegas is 86.8 (13th-best) and his Average Running Position is 12.645 (10th-best).

Dillon has also reached the summit in his NASCAR XFINITY Series career standings ranking; his previous best points position was 3rd last season. Dillon is on pace to contend for a title this season, and his season-to date Loop Data supports his early success. He is ranked second in Driver Rating with a 107.7 and second in Average Running Position with a 7.273.

Dillon has made two series starts at Las Vegas, twice finishing 11th at the 1.5 mile speedway. Dillon has made 15 series starts on 1.5-mile tracks posting an average finish of 10.3. His pre-race Loop Data for Las Vegas has him ranked ninth in Driver Rating (94.5) and seventh in Average Running Position (9.553).

XFINITY Series Youth Movement

The top five drivers in the NASCAR XFINITY Series are all under the age of 24. Top Five in points: 1. Chris Buescher (22 years old), 2. Ty Dillon (23), Ryan Reed (21), Darrell Wallace Jr. (21) and Dakoda Armstrong (23). The average age of the drivers in the top five of the series standings is 22 years old. If any of the five drivers listed above wins this weekend at Las Vegas they will hold the record for youngest series winning driver at LVMS – the current record holder is Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (24 years, 5 months, 8 days).

Qualifying Counts at Las Vegas

As the old adage goes, “it’s not where you start, but where you finish.” However, in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where you start really does matter. In the previous 18 races held at the speedway, 13 race winners started from inside the top 10. Defending race winner, Brad Keselowski, started second in last year’s 200 lap event.

Hometown Hero: Gaughan Heads Home

Who says you can’t go home? Brendan Gaughan does just that this weekend as he competes in the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gaughan has four series starts at the speedway including two top-10 finishes. The Las Vegas native will compete in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race on Saturday and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday. Gaughan is currently 12th in the XFINITY Series championship standings.

Elliott, Smith and Scott Make Biggest Moves In The Standings

Following a surprisingly disappointing start to 2015 for Chase Elliott, Regan Smith and Brian Scott, who all finished 25th or worse at Daytona, the trio was able to bounce back in impressive fashion this past weekend at Atlanta. All three drivers gained 11 or more positions in the series standings – the most in the series following Atlanta.

The 2014 series champ, Chase Elliott, finished 28th at Daytona putting him 20th in the series standings. This past weekend Elliott was able to rebound considerably. He finished fifth at Atlanta jumping 12 positions in the standings from 20th to the top 10 (eighth). Watch for Elliott’s ascension up the standings to continue this week at Las Vegas. He finished in the top five in his one and only start there, last season.

Elliott’s JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith was caught in an accident at Daytona ultimately finishing 35th in the season opener.

Smith’s finish at Daytona had him 26th in the points standings, but last weekend at Atlanta he was able to capitalize on his situation. Smith finished in the top 10 and in doing so leap frogged 12 positions in the series points standings from 26th to 14th.

Smith has made five starts at Las Vegas posting two top-10 finishes.

Of the three biggest movers in the point standings this week, Brian Scott moved up to the highest point standings position (seventh).

Scott finished 25th at Daytona and was 18th in the points heading to Atlanta. Scott moved up 11 positions in the standings following his seventh-place finish at Atlanta and all signs point to Scott’s momentum not slowing at Las Vegas. In his last two starts at the 1.5-mile track he has posted two top-10 finishes.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Crafton Cruises On Quest To Three-Peat

Defending two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton proved any driver hoping to take his title will have to go through him. The 16-year veteran dominated in Saturday’s Hyundai Construction Equipment 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 85-of-130 laps for his first career win at the 1.5-mile track. Crafton’s victory moved him to second in the driver point standings, two points behind Brad Keselowski Racing’s Tyler Reddick.

Already the only driver in Truck Series history to win the championship in consecutive years, Crafton can join Jack Sprague for second-place all time by taking a third title. The No. 88 ThorSport Racing driver returns to action at Martinsville Speedway on March 28 for the Kroger 250 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1), as the defending spring race winner.

Speedy Suarez
In only his third career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start, Daniel Suarez posted his first top-five showing, crossing the finish line at Atlanta in the fourth position. The Monterrey, Mexico native is running a limited schedule in the No. 51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports, but has started the first two races of the season, placing top 10 in both. Suarez is on deck for KBM in Martinsville and Kansas as he continues to compete full time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing. The 23-year-old won five-of-15 races in the NASCAR Mexico Series and two-of-13 races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East last year.

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html

Graphics & Photos Courtesy of NASCAR

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