Truex Wins Las Vegas Race by Passing Keselowski

Credit Stephen R Sylvanie/USATODAY Sports

LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Three weeks in a row, no one could have guessed who was going to win a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race in the closing laps.  At Daytona, it was Kurt Busch coming on with a few laps to go to win.  At Atlanta, it was Brad Keselowski seeing his margin over Martin Truex, Jr. get bigger and bigger.  Truex won when Keselowski developed a problem in his Ford.  And then there was the fight, but more about that later.

Truex won the first two stages of the race, but faced some serious competition in the final stage in Keselowski.  With 24 laps to go, Keselowski went low to pass Truex after having looked at the back of Truex’s Toyota for almost 100 laps. Three laps later, Keselowski padded his lead to more than half a second. Two laps later, with 17 to the end, the advantage became a full second for the pole-sitter.

The racing was slowed to a crawl at that point, when Danica Patrick’s No. 10 Ford blew its engine into Turn 1, its trail of smoke billowing out the rear of the rig. Truex and Keselowski pitted under the green flag and took four new tires apiece.

When it resumed, Keselowski was behind Truex, but on the backstretch of the track Keselowski went high, took the lead and did not give it back until the final lap when he said something on his car broke.

Keselowski was trying to defend his 2016 victory in the Kobalt 400, and had pulled away from the field on the final restart with nine laps remaining. Keselowski also won last week's race, at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"I felt like the race didn't play into our hands," Truex said. "We got a little bit lucky there. That's why you fight until the end."

In the first stage, Keselowski dominated the first 80 laps, the first scoring stage, of the race as he steadily eked away from the pack. By the 50th lap, he owned a 1.63-second advantage over Martin Truex Jr., who started the race next to pole-sitter Keselowski on the front row. Just three laps later, that gap became 2.35 seconds.

It took Keselowski less than 15 laps to pass Timmy Hill, who started on the 20th row. Hill’s crew soon received a penalty for having an uncontrollable tire in its pit area.

But Keselowski’s fortunes changed when Kevin Harvick’s No. 4 Ford blew a tire just past the start/finish line on Lap 70. He smacked into the wall hard, his cabin filled with smoke and he did not exactly get out of the vehicle quickly. He put his window net down - signaling he was OK - but drivers are not allowed to exit their cars onto the track surface without the medical team present unless they are in immediate danger. After being released from the infield medical area, Harvick said, “I’m fine. Blew a tire.”

Harvick, who was conquering all at Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend before incurring a late speeding penalty in the pits, elaborated a few minutes later while sitting in a golf cart in the infield: “It started vibrating about four or five laps before it blew out, and I was just trying to ride it to the end of the stage … the worst part was the medical response; it took them forever to get to the car. I thought we made that better, but obviously, we haven’t … it either just cut the tire, or came apart and melted the bead.”

Truex took advantage of the caution by getting four fresh tires on the ensuing pit stop, while Joey Logano and Jamie McMurray emerged out of the pit first and second by only getting two tires. Truex, who was running second late at Daytona before running out of gas, zipped out to the front and kept a cushion of more than two seconds to beat everyone to Lap 80, and the first-stage win.

Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Keselowski and Chase Elliott—who was leading late at Daytona before running out of fuel, too—rounded out the top five in the stage.

On the 152nd lap, eight before the end of Stage 2, Derrike Cope slipped coming around Turn 3 as Truex was nursing a three-second advantage over Elliott. When the caution flag was waved, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch stayed out on the track and took the first and second positions when the race resumed.

Truex and Keselowski came out of pit stops behind Johnson and Busch, but that did not last long as Truex again took over the lead, ahead of Keselowski and Kyle Larson to the stage flag. That’s how it finished, and Truex had captured the entire 20 championship points for the two stage triumphs.

“I really do like these big race tracks,” Truex said from his car to an announcer after his second stage win.

On the 18th lap, Corey LaJoie’s No. 83 Toyota made contact with the outside wall on Turn 2 and, with heavy smoke trailing the entire way, came to a standstill on the inside of the track. Smoke enveloped the car. That ensuing caution created the first pit opportunity, which Kyle Busch used to improve his spot by four places. Rookie Erik Jones, who had been running 10th, fell back to 16th out of pit road. LaJoie, from Concord, N.H., was checked out in the infield care center and released after about five minutes. His BK Racing rig wasn’t so lucky. No. 83 was listed as BTW—or Behind The Wall, where his mechanics hustled to repair it—and given five minutes to return to the track. He did not return.

In a bizarre twist to the end of the race, two unlikely drivers got into a fight, or at least a near fight on pit road following the race when Kyle Busch went to exact revenge on Logano, who he thought dumped him on the last lap. Busch went to Logano’s car on pit road and a fight ensued between the teams until NASCAR officials and track security separated the melee.  It appeared that Busch tried to cold-cock Logano, but Team Penske crew members pulled Logano away and NASCAR officials

“There wasn’t much talking, there was a lot of swinging,” Logano said. "I don’t know. I was racing hard there at the end with our Pennzoil Ford. Kyle and I usually race really well together. We usually never have any issues, and he tried to pin me down into the corner underneath Brad and we about crashed on entry, and then I was still trying to gather it up by the center and I was gonna spin out, so I’m trying to chase it up and he was there.  It obviously wasn’t anything intentional, but obviously, he thinks that, so, I don’t know, we’ll get by.”

When Logano was asked if any of Busch’s blows landed, he replied, “None to me."

Busch was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

“I got dumped,” Busch said. ““Flat-out just drove straight into the corner (add) and wrecked us. That’s how Joey races, so he’s going to get it.”

The fighting and racing heads to Phoenix International Raceway next weekend.

Unofficial Race Results for the 20Th Annual Kobalt 400 - Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status, Laps
1)        2, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER BOATS Toyota, 1, 1, 6, 150, 7, 60, Running, 267
2)        5, Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet, 2, 3, , , , 52, Running, 267
3)        12, Chase Elliott, No. 24 NAPA Chevrolet, 5, 4, , , , 47, Running, 267
4)        6, Joey Logano, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford, , 5, 1, 5, , 39, Running, 267
5)        1, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford, 4, 2, 4, 89, , 48, Running, 267
6)        15, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota, , , , , , 31, Running, 267
7)        3, Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, 3, 6, , , , 43, Running, 267
8)        10, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Credit One Bank/Cessna Chevrolet, 6, 8, , , , 37, Running, 267
9)        4, Matt Kenseth, No. 20 BlueDEF Toyota, 9, , , , , 30, Running, 267
10)      13, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Haas Automation Ford, , , , , , 27, Running, 267
11)      16, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Kobalt Chevrolet, 7, 10, 2, 19, , 31, Running, 267
12)      7, Kasey Kahne, No. 5 LiftMaster Chevrolet, , , , , , 25, Running, 267
13)      20, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford, , , , , , 24, Running, 267
14)      30, Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield Ford, , , , , , 23, Running, 267
15)      8, Erik Jones #, No. 77 5-hour Energy Extra Strength Toyota, , , , , , 22, Running, 267
16)      18, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, 10, 7, , , , 26, Running, 267
17)      21, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, , 9, , , , 22, Running, 267
18)      26, Michael McDowell, No. 95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet, , , 1, 2, , 19, Running, 267
19)      14, Paul Menard, No. 27 Valvoline Menards Chevrolet, , , , , , 18, Running, 267
20)      11, Daniel Suarez #, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, , , , , , 17, Running, 267
21)      24, Ty Dillon #, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, , , 1, 2, , 16, Running, 267
22)      9, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 8, , , , , 18, Running, 267
23)      25, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Natural Light Chevrolet, , , , , , 14, Running, 266
24)      23, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, , , , , , 13, Running, 266
25)      22, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, , , , , , 12, Running, 266
26)      31, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Can-Am/Kappa Ford, , , , , , 11, Running, 265
27)      27, Landon Cassill, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, , , , , , 10, Running, 264
28)      33, Cole Whitt, No. 72 Rinnai Chevrolet, , , , , , 9, Running, 264
29)      32, David Ragan, No. 38 Juice Battery Ford, , , , , , 8, Running, 264
30)      17, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford, , , , , , 7, Running, 263
31)      37, Reed Sorenson, No. 15 Toyota, , , , , , 6, Running, 262
32)      36, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 33 Little Joes Autos/Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet, , , , , , 5, Running, 261
33)      29, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Fastenal Ford, , , , , , 4, Running, 261
34)      35, Gray Gaulding #, No. 23 Schluter Systems Toyota, , , , , , 3, Running, 260
35)      38, * Derrike Cope #, No. 55 Chevrolet, , , , , , 2, Running, 254
36)      28, Danica Patrick, No. 10 Aspen Dental Ford, , , , , , 1, Engine, 246
37)      39, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 51 Dashub Chevrolet, , , , , , 0, Suspension, 135
38)      19, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Annual Protection Ford, , , , , , 1, Accident, 68
39)      34, * Corey LaJoie #, No. 83 JAS Expeditited Trucking Toyota, , , , , , 1, Accident, 16

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series; # = Rookie; * = non-franchise team

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 56 Mins, 39 Secs.
Average Speed: 136.032 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.495 Seconds
Race Comments: Martin Truex Jr. won Sunday's Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his eighth career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the start of the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: #10 (rear gear), #17 (backup car), #51 (transmission).
Caution Flags: 6 for 34 laps: Laps: 19-24 (#83 Incident in Turn 2 [33]); 70-75 (#4  Incident on the frontstretch [47]); 82-87 (Stage 1 Conclusion [37]); 153-156 (#55 Incident in Turn 2 [18]); 162-167 (Stage 2 Conclusion [95]); 253-258 (Oil on the track from #10 [43]).
Lead Changes: 14 among 6 drivers: B. Keselowski 1-19; M. Truex Jr. 20-24; B. Keselowski 25-70; J. Logano 71-75; M. Truex Jr. 76-124; B. Keselowski 125-126; T. Dillon # 127-128; M. McDowell 129-130; M. Truex Jr. 131-153; J. Johnson 154-156; M. Truex Jr. 157-211; J. Johnson 212-227; M. Truex Jr. 228-243; B. Keselowski 244-265; M. Truex Jr. 266-267.
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Kyle Busch, #18             Coors Light Pole Award: Brad Keselowski, #2 193.68 mph
Ingersoll Rand Power Move: Kasey Kahne, #5 5 positions            Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Roush-Yates Engines, #2 
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kyle Larson, #42        Moog Go the Extra Mile: Denny Hamlin, #11 crew chief Michael Wheeler, 0.047 seconds
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap: Kyle Larson, #42             Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Erik Jones, #77

 

 

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2016, Issue 8, Posted 9:37 PM, 03.12.2017