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The NASCAR Sprint Cup series is headed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 400. Which Sprint Cup driver could cash in at Vegas with a win?
First let’s take a look at the track itself. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile track that has 20 degrees of banking through the turns. While that does classify it as an intermediate track on the circuit, there is plenty of speed to found by the drivers and teams.
Last year’s pole winner Joey Logano put down a qualifying run of 193.278 mph around the track. That means while at some points he was running slower than that, there were points around the track where his car hit at least close to the 200 mph mark to get an average like that.
With those kinds of speeds, the drivers will need to manage their tires and engines to avoid having either blow and end their chances at racing for the win at the end.
There is also plenty of room on the track for side-by-side racing of two, three and perhaps even four wide. However, the cars will need to be handling well to make the passes without losing control heading into the turns and finding the wall or another car to cause a wreck and ending the day prematurely.
(Photo courtesy of NASCARmedia.com/253016Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Which ten drivers have the best driver rating at Las Vegas Motor Speedway? Here is the list:
Jimmie Johnson – 113.6 – 4 wins
Jeff Gordon – 103.7 – 1 win
Kyle Busch – 103.4 – 1 win
Matt Kenseth – 98.1 – 3 wins
Greg Biffle – 97.9 – 0 wins
Carl Edwards – 97.8 – 2 wins
Tony Stewart – 97.1 – 1 win
Kevin Harvick – 94.5 – 0 wins
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 91.5 – 0 wins
Kasey Kahne – 88.1 – 0 wins
With the most wins at the track and coming off his win last week at Atlanta, you would be correct in thinking that Jimmie Johnson could easily get back-to-back wins for 2015 by earning another trip to Victory Lane this week.
Jeff Gordon has run strong in the first two races this year before being in the wrong place at the wrong time which resulted in a disappointing finish in both races. This week could be the race where Jeff avoids the trouble and scores his first win of his final full-time Sprint Cup season.
Matt Kenseth had a terrible finish in the Daytona 500, but he rebounded nicely with a top five finish in Atlanta last week. Matt could move up to tie Jimmie in total wins at Vegas with a victory this week.
Carl Edwards has started his first year with his new team off pretty strong. This could be the week that he and his new team step up to show that they are already ready to challenge for a championship by winning their first race together and Carl’s third at Las Vegas.
I am going to put Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the mix as a strong possibility to win this week as well. I know he has not won a Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas yet. However, he is in the top ten for driver ratings and part of the reason for that is that he has the most runner-up finishes at the track in the Sprint Cup series with three. It is Las Vegas and I am playing a hunch here. He finished third in Daytona, third in Atlanta and has three second place finishes in Vegas. Threes are wild for Dale Jr. heading to Vegas and could produce his first win in Sin City. Again, it’s just a hunch though. Fortunes have been lost in Vegas on hunches.
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I do believe that whichever driver ultimately takes the drive to Victory Lane this week, it will mean that he and his team will have taken some gambles through the race to hit the NASCAR jackpot at the end. That should make it an exciting race to watch.
The Kobalt Tools 400 will get started Sunday, March 8th starting at 2:30pm central time on FOX.
Here is my friendly reminder to “Spring Forward” an hour overnight Saturday night (3/7) for Daylight Saving Time. If you don’t, you will be late Sunday and could miss some of the racing action from Las Vegas.
By: Buck Stevens
