Posted on

The Top Five: Breaking down the Las Vegas race

Each week, I’ll give some race analysis through a post called the Top Five — notable storylines from the just-completed event. Typically, this will be posted as soon as possible after the race — but my site has been crashing for the past couple days, so I was unable to post anything new! My apologies for the delay.

Get ready for the mixed messages

It will be fascinating to see how NASCAR reacts to the Kyle Busch/Joey Logano incident.

In one respect, NASCAR probably has to give Busch a slap on the wrist (probation or small fine) to say, “Hey dude, you can’t go up to someone and just punch them.”

But on the other hand, this is exactly what NASCAR wants! You know NASCAR is going to use it in all sorts of promotional aspects heading into Phoenix and beyond, so it’s hypocritical to penalize Busch while also profiting from it.

That’s been how NASCAR has operated for years, of course, dating back to the 1979 Daytona 500 (the drivers were fined for that famous fight, even though it put NASCAR on the map).

With the addition of Monster Energy, though — which has openly advocated for drivers to mix it up — can NASCAR really fine Busch with a straight face?

If so, he shouldn’t pay it.

Finish saves a ho-hum race

The sun was pouring into the press box during the first stage, and — combined with a food coma from lunch and the expiration of my morning coffee buzz — I almost started to nod off.

You can yell at FOX all you want (There’s great racing through the field, they’re just not showing it!), but the truth is the entire field was running single file for a long stretch in both of the early stages.

At one point, a reporter (who shall remain nameless) shouted, “Whoa!” We scanned the track for trouble, didn’t see anything, then turned to the reporter with puzzled expressions.

What happened?

“A pass in the top 12!” he said.

Though the crazy finish with Brad Keselowski’s problems and the post-race fight salvaged the day, there are now legitimate concerns about the racing following the first two 1.5-mile tracks of the season. Both Atlanta and Vegas weren’t as exciting as their 2016 editions — especially Atlanta — and it makes you wonder what’s up with the much-anticipated lower downforce package.

Phoenix probably isn’t going to be an amazing race — it’s just not the most action-packed track after restarts — but Fontana should be, since it’s become one of the best circuits. If not, there will be much head-scratching going on within the industry.

Martin Truex Jr. closes it out

Every time I thought about the new points system heading into the season, I thought of Martin Truex Jr. He was so dominant at times last year, and then he got into the Chase and — well, you know what happened. But if he had the playoff points under the current system, he might have made it to Homestead.

So with that in mind, it was interesting to see Truex get the maximum seven playoff points (which, remember, are bonus points that carry over all the way through Phoenix). Prior to this system, a win was only worth three bonus points — and those could only be used in the first round.

“That really would have helped us last year,” Truex said. “We ran so good and led so many races, and always didn’t get the finish we probably deserved or thought we should have gotten, and so it’s cool to get rewarded for running good and pushing hard and being up at the front of the pack more consistently than other guys.”

With one great race, Truex now has more bonus/playoff points than he’d have for two wins last year. That’s really going to add up for some of the top drivers, and it’s going to make the chances of some fluke elimination in the early rounds much less likely.

Kyle Larson is having a fantastic start

Don’t sleep on Larson this year — and I’m not just talking wins, but the championship.

Dating back to the Phoenix race last fall, Larson has finished third, second at Homestead, 12th at Daytona, second at Atlanta and now second at Las Vegas.

“Super happy with how our season has gotten started,” he said. “Way better than where I’ve ever started a season.”

It seems like things are really clicking for Larson, who isn’t taking himself out of races with some of the mistakes he made in the first couple seasons.

When you combine Larson’s results with consecutive top-10s for Jamie McMurray, there’s a lot to like about Chip Ganassi Racing right now. Both cars appear to have the speed to be contenders in many weeks this season.

Keselowski the early title favorite

I just said not to sleep on Larson (see above) for the championship, but the favorite at the moment has to be Keselowski.

He won Atlanta despite having to make an untimely pit stop with a loose wheel, then won the pole for Las Vegas and was certainly either the best car (he was about to win, after all) or the second-best all day.

Keselowski said he didn’t know what happened to his car in the last couple laps, when he suddenly lost power (and if he did know, he was keeping it close to the vest). But either way, the overall speed is there and Team Penske seems to be extremely strong (Keselowski’s teammate Logano is the only driver with top-10 finishes in all three races).

It’s still very early, of course, and many things can and will change in the coming weeks. But if you’re looking for the NASCAR equivalent of a 25-day weather forecast, it’s looking bright for Keselowski.

Posted on

Video: Kyle Busch, Joey Logano fight at Las Vegas NASCAR race

After Kyle Busch crashed at the end of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he quickly exited his car on pit road and started walking with a purpose toward the other end.

Without having seen the replay, I didn’t know where Busch was going or who he was mad at, but I figured he might want to have a chat with the responsible party.

So I pulled my phone out, and then this happened:

Logano stayed and spoke to reporters after the fight was broken up, telling the media Busch didn’t land any punches (the video is inconclusive on that, although there were no obvious marks on his face).

“I don’t run from conflict,” Logano said of the confrontation. “You just talk about it, but he wasn’t in a talking mood. He was in a fighting mood, I guess. Typically, you can handle this stuff like men and talk about it. You don’t have to fight, but whatever.”

Logano said he’s never had any previous problems with Busch and added the two have “always raced really well together.”

“We’ve never had an issue,” he said. “But I guess that’s over.”

Busch was gone by the time I got to the infield care center, but during a brief FOX interview, he indicated the bad blood may not be over.

“I got dumped,” he said. “He flat-out just drove straight in the corner and wrecked me. That’s how Joey races, so he’s going to get it.”

Posted on

NASCAR vs. EDC: Photos comparing setups at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

I’ve had the biggest smile on my face while walking around Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend — and not just because I’m happy to be covering another NASCAR race.

There’s another reason why I’m so pumped: It’s the first time I’ve been back to the track since attending Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) with my wife last year.

EDC was one of the most fun experiences of my life. We’ve become huge dance music fans, and many of our favorites played EDC last June — Martin Garrix, Zedd, Marshmello, Alesso, etc. And really, the whole atmosphere — the lights, lasers, fireworks, confetti and 135,000 happy people — was really something to see. Take it from me: You don’t need to be on drugs or whatever to enjoy it.

But wow, it looks SO different for NASCAR weekend. I’ve been coming to LVMS for races since 2006, and seeing how it was set up for EDC compared to how it looks normally was really wild.

If you ever get a chance and like EDM even a little bit, do whatever you can to attend EDC.

Here’s a few pictures comparing how the track looked for EDC and how it looks during NASCAR weekend (all photos were taken by me):

The Cup garage was completely transformed into a rest area — complete with turf and bean bags to relax.

 

The Circuit Grounds were an open area surrounded by giant columns, tucked into Turn 2.

 

kineticFIELD, EDC’s biggest stage, was 450 feet wide and 100 feet tall last year and could hold 70,000 people. It was built between Turns 3 and 4.

 

A look at part of the LVMS infield during EDC, featuring the Cosmic Meadow stage (a 40,000-capacity stage built on pit road that used the infield grass and stands for fans to watch).

 

A big part of EDC is the ‘C’ — the carnival. Here’s an overlook from the Neon Garage (looking toward the backstretch).

 

There were rides and concession stands located where the Cup haulers park now.

 

Vendors set up outside where the Cup cars would park nine months later.

 

Need a break from the heat? This cooling center was a popular place during EDC — now it’s the Xfinity Series garage.
Posted on

Thoughts on New Hampshire losing a race

In the brief time since it was made official this afternoon that New Hampshire Motor Speedway is losing its September race to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2018, I’ve seen plenty of NASCAR fans grumbling on Twitter about the loss of a short track and the addition of another cookie cutter 1.5-mile track.

Usually I’d be right there with them (More short tracks!!!) but not in the case of New Hampshire. The truth is NHMS is not a very exciting track for stock cars.

When is the last great NHMS Cup race you’ve seen? I asked myself that as well, and I can’t remember one. The common refrain during New Hampshire weekend is the Modified race is the best event at the track, and that’s true — not only because it’s a good race, but because the Cup race is usually a bad one.

Last year, both New Hampshire races rated in the bottom seven points races of my weekly “Was it a good race?” Twitter poll. And that’s where they should have been, because they weren’t very good races.

Let’s just be honest here: As much as cookie cutter tracks are boring, Las Vegas had a better race than NHMS last year (71 percent of people liked that race as opposed to 50 percent and 48 percent for the two New Hampshire races, respectively). If you want to call NHMS a short track because it’s only 1 mile, then I guess that’s fine — but it certainly doesn’t race like one.

Plus, it’s not like NASCAR isn’t going there at all anymore — just one less time. Seriously, did NASCAR really need to visit New Hampshire twice in 10 weeks every year? I don’t think so.

Look, it would suck if this was going to add another 1.5-mile track to the playoffs and the overall schedule, but it’s not. As Nate Ryan reported yesterday, they’re likely going to take the Charlotte fall race and run it on the infield road course.

So what is NASCAR really trading here? The actual swap is a ho-hum flat track race in exchange for a road race — in the playoffs!

What’s so wrong with that?