NASCAR Cup Series

“I can’t wait for Vegas. Racing at Vegas is a lot of fun. It’s a bumpy, rough 1.5-mile track and we typically run decent there. It’s our first race this season with Cheez-It on the car and I’m looking forward to a top five run.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for its first stop on a three-race west coast swing – Sunday’s Kobalt 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX). Following Las Vegas, the series moves on to Phoenix and concludes its Pacific trip at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California before heading back east to Martinsville.

“Well I’m proud of the guys. We’ve had good race cars in each of these first two races. Heck, we were second at one point on the last lap of the Daytona 500. And last weekend, Brian (Pattie) brought me another great car.

Trevor Bayne will make his fifth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. In four previous starts at the 1.5-mile oval, Bayne has recorded one top-10 finish, a ninth-place result in 2012.

Excuse Brian Vickers if taking the green flag to start Sunday’s Las Vegas race seems as rewarding as a trip to victory lane.

“I’m finally realizing my potential,” Logano said. “I believe I can win the Sprint Cup championship. I haven’t been this fast since my departure from Joe Gibbs Racing.

The last time Sam Hornish Jr. visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he celebrated in Victory Lane. Hornish won the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at the 1.5-mile track in 2013. This weekend, he returns competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Richard Petty Motorsports.

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.