NASCAR Cup Series

2018 marks the fourth consecutive year that the NASCAR schedule has taken the series on a ‘West Coast Swing’ visiting Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway in succession. Chevrolet has been the most successful manufacturer by earning six of the nine races in the past three seasons that the series has made this mecca. One manufacturer is yet to sweep the “West Coast” swing in its current configuration.

Atlanta Recap: Denny Hamlin finished fourth in Sunday’s 500-mile Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, claiming his second top-five of the season in the #11 FedEx Ground Toyota as a result of a calculated pit strategy championed by Crew Chief Mike Wheeler. The top-five competitors visited pit road on lap 213 for their first green-flag pit stops of Stage 3, while Hamlin stayed out and assumed the race lead.

Stenhouse has five-career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) starts at Las Vegas with an average starting position of 17.8 and average finishing position of 23.8.

Paul Menard, driver of the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Fusion, talks about the upcoming Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Wood Brothers Racing driver currently sits ninth in MENSC Driver Points heading into the three-race West Coast swing.

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

Ford heads into NASCAR’s western swing on a high note after Kevin Harvick’s two wins last weekend, highlighted by Sunday’s dominating performance in which he led 181-of-325 laps. As all three series prepare to race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ford Performance looks at how its teams have fared at the 1.5-mile track.

COMPARING ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY TO LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: "Heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, there are some things we can take from Atlanta Motor Speedway and some things we can't," Allmendinger said. "If you go to Atlanta and your car has speed in it, you kind of feel like you’re going to go to Las Vegas (another 1.5-mile track) and have speed in it there as well. The setup is a bit different for sure. Our teammate ran the test at Las Vegas in January, and we got some good notes from that in terms of how this new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will handle once we race there. We’ll definitely use the test notes more than we’ll use the Atlanta notes going to Vegas."

Las Vegas in 2017 was a city of celebration for Martin Truex Jr., who claimed his first of eight season wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Richard Childress Racing's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series History at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ... In 60 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets have earned 10 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes with eight different drivers - Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Mike Skinner.

While Harvick led more than half the time, Brad Keselowski was second after holding point for 38 laps. Denny Hamlin was fourth with 26 up front, while Kurt Busch settled for eighth, taking the second stage and leading 52 circuits.