NASCAR Cup Series

Scoring two consecutive Top-15 finishes in the first two races of the season, the No. 43 Smithfield team looks to continue momentum as they head west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Fresh off his best Sprint Cup season in 2014, Aric Almirola is having a great start to the 2015 season sitting ninth in the Championship Point Standings.

The 27-year-old driver will make his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at the 1.5-mile speedway, in only his eighth career Sprint Cup start. Scott will also be making his sixth NASCAR XFINITY Series start this weekend in the Boyd Gaming 300.

When the Sprint Cup Series returns to Martinsville Speedway for the STP 500 on March 29, Chad Johnston is optimistic his team will have fully adjusted to the new technology NASCAR is using to monitor pit road.

"I love Las Vegas. I love the atmosphere, I love the speed of the track and I love the bumps. I've won a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas, so I like going there. We did qualify well there last year and that was my first 1.5-mile track in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with this team, so I think it was a solid run.

Going into Sunday's Kobalt 400, Bliss will be making his third career NSCS start at the 1.5 mile track. The Oregon native has a best finish of 16th, which came back in 2005. The 2001 NCWTS Champion will once again be pulling double duty, running for Tri-Star Motorsports in Saturday's Xfinity race.

hat has Kevin Harvick done at Phoenix? Quite literally, a lot, and it’s being celebrated by JR Motorsports with a creative, new video at JRMRacing.com and by Phoenix International Raceway with a special ticket package for its March race weekend.

Hamlin will be driving double-duty this weekend at Las Vegas. In addition to the #11 FedEx Office Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series, Hamlin will fill in for the injured Kyle Busch in the #54 Monster Energy Toyota in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event.

Kurt Busch, who was suspended by NASCAR on Feb. 20, will actively pursue reinstatement. He agreed to NASCAR’s terms and conditions last Friday to begin the process.

Johnson started beyond 30th, as did 13 others who failed to even make it through tech inspection, never mind even attempting to qualify. Jeff Gordon failed four times.

Stewart-Haas Racing has named Regan Smith interim driver of its No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekend March 6-8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.