Kyle Larson dominates to first win of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

The NASCAR Cup Series closed out the weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon. Joey Logano was the defending winner of this race. Kevin Harvick won the pole by a metric qualifying system, with last week’s winner William Byron starting second. For the second race in a row, the “Choose Cone Rule” returned. The rule allows drivers to pick which lane they want before the race starts. No cars failed pre-race inspection. NASCAR set the competition caution for lap 25.

William Byron led the opening lap while Kevin Harvick quickly fell to sixth. For Harvick, this was the beginning of a long day. Harvick complained of no grip on the track, too tight in the center, and terrible in traffic. Byron led the first nineteen laps before his teammate Chase Elliott used the bottom lane of turn one to take the lead. He led an additional seven laps before the competition caution came out on lap 26.

Some teams went to pit road during the caution, including Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, and William Byron. Chase Elliott was on pit road, and he had right-side damage by the jack bolt. Larson beat out Hamlin for the lead. The race resumed on lap 31. Harvick restarted 13th, and a lap into the restart, he fell to 25th. Hamlin got the lead from Larson and led thirteen laps before Kyle Larson charged his way to the front on lap 44.

Three laps later, the second caution would come out for debris. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick had a left front tire flat after making earlier contact with Erik Jones. Some teams went to pit road during the caution. The race resumed with 29 laps to go in stage one. Larson would lose the lead to Joey Logano a lap into the restart. For the rest of stage one, Logano, Elliott, and Keselowski took turns leading a few laps. In the closing laps of stage one, Keselowski and Elliott were neck and neck for the lead until the final lap. Brad Keselowski would get ahead of Elliott and win stage one.

Teams went to pit road during the caution, with Hamlin beating Keselowski out to take the lead. The race resumed on lap 88 to start stage two. Hamlin lost two positions on the restart, with Keselowski taking over first place and Ryan Blaney taking second place. Alex Bowman did challenge Hamlin for third, but Hamlin was able to hold on to the position.

Eighteen laps later, Kyle Larson made his way to the front. On lap 107, Kyle Larson took over the lead from Keselowski. Keselowski got loose at turn one, allowing William Byron to close in on him for second. On lap 122, the first green flag pit stop cycles began with Alex Bowman being the first to pit. By lap 136, Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell were the only drivers to not pit. Once both drivers made pit stops, Kyle Larson resumed the lead on lap 147.

Larson would lead the last thirteen laps to win stage two. Teams went to pit road during the caution, with Larson beating Hamlin out to remain in first place. The final stage was underway on lap 168. Two laps into the restart, Chase Elliott got loose and clipped the right rear of Kurt Busch to bring out the race’s fifth caution. Denny Hamlin had just taken the lead right before the caution came out.

Some teams went to pit road, including Kurt Busch, as his crew worked fiercely to repair the right rear before sending him out. The race resumed on lap 175. Hamlin got a great push from Truex to maintain the lead over Larson. This restart lasted four laps before Aric Almirola’s car cut a tire and went into the wall to bring out the race’s sixth caution. Some teams did head to pit road during the caution, including Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch. The race resumed on lap 185 with Hamlin still in the lead and Truex in second.

Both Truex and Hamlin were battling for the lead before Hamlin took it with 76 laps to go. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson took third from Keselowski and was now chasing both Gibbs cars. Larson would get Truex for second and now was chasing Hamlin. On lap 206, Hamlin lost momentum from a lapped car that allowed Kyle Larson to go around him for the lead.

Nine laps later, the last green-flag pit stop cycles began on lap 217 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was thirteenth, came to pit road. The last cycles lasted ten laps. Daniel Suarez was the last car not to pit, but Larson passed him for the lead on lap 238.

Late in the race, Alex Bowman cut a tire and was trying to get to pit road. As Bowman was heading to pit road, he nearly missed being hit by Anthony Alfredo. Bowman would be blacked flagged for a commitment line violation. Upfront, no one could catch Larson, and he was putting more cars a lap down, including Kevin Harvick. He led the last thirty laps to win his first race since 2019 at Dover by 3.156 seconds over Brad Keselowski. Larson led a total of 103 laps.

He thanked his crew on the radio, saying. “Thanks, guys, for believing in me.” His crew chief, Cliff Daniels, told him on the radio, “Great job, Kyle. So proud of you, man. God has been so good to this team. It’s been a hell of a journey for all of us. … long time coming.”

The rest of the top ten finishers were Kyle Busch third, Denny Hamlin fourth, Ryan Blaney fifth, Martin Truex Jr. sixth, Christopher Bell seventh, William Byron eighth, Joey Logano ninth, and Erik Jones tenth. There were 27 lead changes and six cautions for 30 laps.

The Cup Series will now head to Phoenix Raceway next Sunday, March 14th, at 3:30 pm on FOX.

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