After races at a superspeedway in Daytona and a flat track in Phoenix, the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series head to Sin City this weekend to take on the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first intermediate track both series will visit this year. This weekend’s races will be a big test for both series, especially the Sprint Cup Series, which will get to put the Gen6 car through its paces for the first time at an intermediate track. This is very important as intermediate tracks make up the bulk of the schedule. Whichever team gets the jump on the competition here could parlay the knowledge gained into more success as the season progresses.
Nationwide Series
The Nationwide Series gets first crack at the Las Vegas track on Saturday in the Sam’s Town 300, scheduled to get underway at 1:00 PM local time. With only three Sprint Cup drivers running this race, it should be a good judge of which Nationwide Series regulars we should keep an eye on down the stretch as the season progresses.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 4.3 |
| Trevor Bayne | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 | 5.0 |
| Justin Allgaier | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 10.5 | 6.2 |
| Austin Dillon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 | 7.0 |
| Sam Hornish Jr | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 | 9.0 |
| Joe Nemechek | 14 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 264 | 18.3 | 12.4 |
| Scott Lagasse Jr | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37.0 | 13.0 |
| Elliott Sadler | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 7.2 | 13.3 |
| Reed Sorenson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11.2 | 14.2 |
| Brian Vickers | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 9.8 | 15.4 |
Who To Watch: Dale Earnhardt Jr will run his second Nationwide race of the year at Las Vegas and over his career at the track, he has the best average finish of all drivers scheduled to run Saturday with an average finish of 4.3 in 3 races, all of which were at least top 10 finishes. Of the Nationwide Series regulars, Trevor Bayne, Justin Allgaier, Austin Dillon, and Sam Hornish Jr all have average finishes of 9.0 or better. Although none of these drivers have found Victory Lane, with average finishes that high, these drivers should be in position to win at the end of 300 miles on Saturday.
Sprint Cup Series
The Sprint Cup Series gets their chance to take on the 1.5 mile speedway in Sin City on Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 400, scheduled to go green at 12.00 PM local time. As mentioned previously, this race will be another big test for the new Gen6 car as this is the first intermediate track on the schedule.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Jimmie Johnson | 11 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 355 | 14.4 | 9.8 |
| Carl Edwards | 8 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 160 | 13.5 | 10.2 |
| Jeff Burton | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 280 | 19.1 | 10.9 |
| Matt Kenseth | 13 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 471 | 17.2 | 12.5 |
| Marcos Ambrose | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 13.5 | 12.8 |
| Denny Hamlin | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22.1 | 12.9 |
| Tony Stewart | 14 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 482 | 14.2 | 12.9 |
| Kevin Harvick | 12 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 58 | 22.2 | 13.0 |
| Greg Biffle | 9 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 115 | 9.0 | 13.4 |
| Mark Martin | 15 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 259 | 13.0 | 13.5 |
Who To Watch: A surprise to no one, Jimmie Johnson has the best stats at this track with 4 wins, 5 top five finishes, 6 top 10 finishes, and an average finish of 9.8. The five-time champion and current points leader should be up front once again on Sunday. Other drivers to watch at Las Vegas are: Carl Edwards, who won at Las Vegas back in 2010 and has an average finish of 10.2; Jeff Burton, who has two wins and has finished in the top 10 in more than half of his 15 races at the track; Matt Kenseth, whose two wins came before the track was reconfigured in 2006, but always runs well at the 1.5 mile tracks; and Marcos Ambrose, who is highly regarded for his road course specialty, but has been improving his performances on the oval tracks and has an average finish of 12.8 at this track. Could this be the weekend Ambrose finally wins an oval track race? Only time will tell.
