Wins mean everything, but doing well in the stages and coming home close to the front seems pretty important also this season. Last week, Matt Kenseth finished ninth, yet lost ground by 30 points to race winner Martin Truex Jr. in Las Vegas alone.
Martin Truex, Jr.: Truex dominated at Las Vegas, capturing the first two stages and passing Brad Keselowski’s slowing Ford with two laps to go. Truex scored the maximum 60 points, and is fourth in the points standings, five out of first.
I wonder what the highlight was from Las Vegas? Just maybe it was the passing opportunity to see Joey Logano get his ass kicked on pit road. However, before that could happen, a lot of dudes on Logano’s race team quickly took Kyle Busch out of the mix as their driver literally got carried off to safety.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been in the news this week after the announcement that the track will host two triple-header NASCAR events in 2018. But did you know that this year marks the 20th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event held at the venue?
One thing that pops out at you are some of the unfamiliar names among our Hot 20 after a couple of races. Even more so, all the familiar names not there.
Brad Keselowski won. 22 victories. This time, if he has any self respect, he needs to send out a few lines of thanks to a pair of drivers. Kyle Larson would be one of them. Larson ran low, did well, but for some reason he thought Keselowski would pass him on high, so he stayed high. Brad passed him down low, and drove away. Larson has one win, and seven runner-up finishes. I am starting to see why.
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Larson six laps to go to win in Atlanta, but it's nothing compared to Kevin Harvick blowing another dominant performance for the fourth straight year at Atlanta.
It is expected. The standings look weird. With bonus points from the Duels and the demo derby that was the Daytona 500, some wound up with more points than anticipated, and some got far less.