NASCAR entered the fourth week of racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after three exciting races to open the season. The mile and a half tracks have left some fans yearning for more in past years, but this year seems different already. Las Vegas Motor Speedway looked like a superspeedway at times with wild restarts, big runs, and lead changes throughout the stage racing. Let’s take a look at what went down this past weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a little background on the winner.
Going into the weekend many drivers with new teams are still getting adjusted to being back racing with fresh faces. Kyle Larson was one of those drivers who had a solid first few races and there were some new drivers in the top 16 drivers standings. Larson was infamously fined, suspended, and released from his former team Chip Ganassi racing after using a racial slur in an online racing stream. Larson has since apologized, done sensitivity training, and talked with many to learn more about racial issues. Larson was signed by Hendrick Motorsports in October and reinstated on January 1st, 2021. He was one of the drivers in a new place this year and has started the year strong.
The start of the race through stage one was led by the likes of William Byron and then was dominated by Brad Keselowski who ended up winning the stage. Kevin Harvick who was on pole for the race struggled all day and ended up finishing in 20th place. Stage 2 was where Kyle Larson’s car started to come to life and he ended up winning the second stage. Denny Hamlin had a solid race as well running in the top five all day, leading 47 laps, and finished in fourth on the day. Ryan Blaney also had a very good day after starting in the 26th position and finished 5th on the day. Larson dominated stage three taking the lead with just over 70 laps left and he never looked back. Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr, and even a late charge by Kyle Busch could not stop Larson from winning only his fourth race back in NASCAR after a year off.
It was an emotional win and Bubba Wallace was there to congratulate him as well. It was a powerful moment and NASCAR’s season has been off to a great start. Next weekend NASCAR heads to the championship race location at Phoneix International Speedway. I will bring you the recap after and as always enjoy the race!
-All stats via NASCAR.com
-CM
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