Las Vegas has always been known for it’s neon lights, it’s night life on the Strip, and the amount of money it brings in from the gambling industry. But one weekend a year, the focus is the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as NASCAR comes to the “City of Lights”.
Thus far, the Sprint Cup season has seen a 20-year-old underdog take the sport’s biggest race, then saw a savvy veteran driver end a winless streak going back to 2009. How exactly would the Kobalt Tools 400 follow such a start to the year?
In the end it was a combination of last week’s winner falling out, the second-place runner blowing up, and the dominant car settling for second that took the headlines.
First off, the drivers that finished 1-2 last week each had their own issues during the race. Jeff Gordon ended a winless streak dating back to 2009 last Sunday at Phoenix. Hoping to keep luck on his side in Vegas, he looked relatively good on track despite having handling issues.
But, late in the running, a blown right-front tire put him into the outside wall in turn 4. The damage to the car was too severe to even repair to come back out on track.
From one great weekend to one of coming up craps, Gordon finished 36th and just as quickly dropped out of the top-12 in points.
Meanwhile, Kyle Busch came to his hometown track hoping to keep his own momentum from his near complete sweep at Phoenix.  Vegas has always been good to Busch, as he won here before. Early on, Busch made his way to the front and looked to be one of the top contenders.
However, a flat tire put him behind early on. And unfortunately, his luck ran out too. Shortly after, the bottom part of the motor in his Snickers Toyota gave way with flames coming out the exhaust. On the radio, Busch knew there was a problem, and knew he was done for the day.
“It’s blowing up; I’ve got flames in my face. Pack it up, we’re done,” he said on the radio.
The blown engine left him in 38th. Not exactly the way to show off to the hometown crowd.
On this day, the drivers that stole the headlines were Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards. By far, the best car on the track the entire afternoon was the No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet. Stewart led the most laps and seemed to be in prime position to just run away with the win. Then things began unraveling in the second half of the event.
Stewart left pit road dragging the hose to one of the air guns, which forced him to serve a penalty on pit road. It put him at the back of the pack and then drive up through the field. Stewart did make it to the front, but had to use some pit strategy to get there. On the final caution, Stewart’s team decided on two tires for position, and he drove away from the field. But, the early two-tire stop meant that the team was in a bind on the final pit stop. The pit crew had to take four tires because the left-side tires were extremely old, and would not hold up to the end.
The four-tire stop was the only call the team could make, and in essence it was what cost them. Despite the drive to the front, time was not on Stewart’s side and he would finish second. As a result, he was very angry on the radio and on the post-race show.
“Second sucks,” Stewart said on the FOX post-race interview. Truthfully, that’s what the entire team felt.
The one driver that did beat Stewart when that checkered flag fell was the No. 99 Ford Fusion of Carl Edwards. It was he who took the lead on the final pit stop thanks in part to a two-tire stop. It put Edwards ahead of Stewart by two seconds, where before he was behind by over four.
Stewart showed that two tires would work on the track, but Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne made the better call. It gave Edwards his first win of the year, and also gave Ford another jump on the competition. Since the last two races of last season, Ford has become a very formidable team and didn’t want to fall behind off the get-go in 2011.
Ford has won four of the last five races, including two of the first three this year, and has the potential of getting it’s first championship since 2004.
I said before the season that Ford would be tough to beat this year, and thus far that prediction is spot on.
It’s just unfortunate that everyone’s momentum has suddenly come to a slowdown. After only three weeks of racing, NASCAR gets it’s first weekend off for the 2011 season. It seems like just when teams get that momentum it gets cut off with the off weekend. This will be changed next year, but for now everyone has to deal with the early break.
It’s unfortunate with the early off-weekend because the start of the season has been incredible. Now, it will be a two-week wait to see if the incredible start can continue on.
RESULTS: 1-Edwards 2-Stewart 3-Montoya 4-Ambrose 5-Newman 6-Truex 7-Hamlin 8-Earnhardt Jr. 9-Kurt Busch 10-Vickers
NOTABLE FINISHES: 11-Kenseth 14-Kahne 16-Johnson 17-Harvick 18-Martin 36-Gordon 38-Kyle Busch
CAUTIONS: 7 for 35 laps. Lap 10-12 (#7 spin-T4), 16-18 (#71 spin-T2), 98-101 (debris), 103-106 (#4, 22 spin-T4), 109-116 (fluid on track), 151-156 (#34 accident-T2), 196-202 (#24 accident-T4).
LEAD CHANGES: 21 among 14 drivers. Kenseth 1-2, Biffle 3-9, Kenseth 10, Gordon 11-12, Stewart 13-50, Biffle 51-54, Truex Jr. 55, Menard 56-58, Blaney 59, Skinner 60, Stewart 61-97, Ambrose 98, Stewart 99-150, Truex Jr. 151, Edwards 151-197, Truex Jr. 198, Stewart 199-234, Montoya 235-241, Kurt Busch 242, Bowyer 243, Reutimann 244, Edwards 245-267.
TIME OF RACE: 2 Hrs, 57 Mins, 20 Secs.
AVERAGE SPEED: 135.508 MPH
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.246 Seconds
POINT STANDINGS (Top-12): 1. Stewart, 113 points; 2. Kurt Busch, 113 points; 3. Edwards, -7; 4. Montoya, -7; 5. Newman, -10; 6. Menard, -17; 7. Truex Jr, -18; 8. Hamlin, -18; 9. Allmendinger, -19; 10. Earnhardt Jr, -22; 11. Martin, -22; 12. Johnson, -26