The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season has now started of with back-to-back back-to-backs.
Denny Hamlin began the season by scoring his second Daytona 500 win in a row. Joey Logano has now won his second Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas in a row.
Sunday’s (2/23) race looked as though it would be a battle between Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott to win the race. Kevin was the car with the most laps led at 92 laps in front of the field. Chase scored second in that category with 70 laps as the race leader.
However, it did appear that Chase was the car that would have to be beaten to win the race. His long-run speed was unmatched most of the day allowing him to win both the first and second stages of the race. Unfortunately for Chase he would find misfortune in the final stage as a broken air nozzle following a pit stop would result in a flat tire for him. That issue would relegate Chase to a 26th place finish one lap down.
The race was fairly tame as far as on track incidents went through the first two stages. There was a caution on lap one when the #96 car stalled on the front stretch when the green flag waived. Other than that there was a competition caution at lap 25 and the cautions that end stages one and two. That would be it until the final 98 laps of the 267 lap race. There were six more caution in those final 98 laps bringing the total times the yellow flag waived to nine.
The second to last yellow flag caused the race to re-start with just two laps remaining. Joey Logano was able to grab the lead of the race on the re-start and hold it to cross under the white flag. The final caution came after Joey took the white flag causing the race to end under yellow according to NASCAR rule.
Matt DeBenedetto claimed a second place finish. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. captured a third place finish. Austin Dillon and Jimmie Johnson finished in fourth and fifth places respectively. See the complete race results for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas here.
Ryan Blaney did not win either of the first two races of the season. However, he has scored enough points to leave Las Vegas as the leader in the point standings. Joey Logano’s win moves him to second place in the standings. Kevin Harvick (3rd), Kyle Larson (4th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5th) round out the top five in the points. See the complete NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.
Next stop for the drivers and teams is Auto Club Speedway in California for the Auto Club 400 Sunday, March 1st.
By: Buck Stevens
