The Cup Series continues on today with the 2024 Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With 2 consecutive drafting tracks completed, the sport returns to a more normal (i.e. boring for the fans who like to complain about everything) pacing as it takes a turn going around a traditional, intermediate track. With the current configuration opening in 1996, Las Vegas Motor Speedway is 1.50 mile oval that has hosted NASCAR annually since 1998 and twice annually since 2018. With 20 degree banking in the corners and 9-12 degree banking on the straightaways, Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of the faster intermediate tracks on the schedule, with speeds reaching upwards of 200 mph, which is bound to please any speed junkie.
Despite being contested for less than 30 years, there have been many elite winners from the who’s who of the sport, including Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron, just to name a few. Jimmie Johnson has the most wins in this race, with 4 checkered flags. Matt Kenseth has 3 victories, while Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano each have 2 wins a piece.
Last year’s edition was won by William Byron, who swept the stages and led 176 laps on the day, putting on an absolute smoke show over the course of the race. Kyle Larson finished second after leading 63 laps, while Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell rounded out the top 5.
Coverage of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube can be seen on Fox Sports 1 and FOX, with NASCAR RaceDay beginning at 2 PM EST on FS1 before continuing on Fox at 3 PM EST, with green flag coverage beginning at 3:30 PM EST.
2024 has not gotten off to the start that Ryan Preece would like, as he has finished outside the top 15 in both of his starts so far. His stats at Las Vegas Motor Speedway are not that much better either, as he has just 2 top 20 finishes in 8 career starts, including 3 straight finishes of 23rd or worse. This weekend is looking to be more of the same struggles for Preece, as he crashed hard in Practice and will have to use a backup car for today’s race, where he will start 36th. Paired with a 35 point penalty Preece received for having illegal roof air deflectors on his car at Atlanta, it’s just been one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week all he way through. We predict that Preece will cap that off with another finish outside the top 20.
In his first full-time Cup season, Zane Smith has had mixed results, finishing 13th at Daytona and 35th at Atlanta. So far in Las Vegas, Smith is off to a promising start, showing top 5 speed on 10 and 15 lap averages and qualifying in 24th for today’s race. In past races here in the Craftsman Truck Series, Smith had successful and consistent results, with 1 top 5 and 5 top 10’s in 7 starts. By no means will Smith have race winning pace, but a top 20 finish for the #71 Spire Motorsports entry would be a solid way to bounce back from their struggles in Atlanta and to help put a cap on what has been a career weekend for the organization as a whole.
Top 10:
You love him. You love to love him and love to hate him. But deep down, even the haters truly love him or else they wouldn’t be blowbagging about him so much. Bubba Wallace is THE man so far in 2024, with a pair of top 5 finishes to kick off the season. Las Vegas has gotten off to a solid start for Wallace, ranking inside the top 10 in Practice and showing his car has great long run speed throughout, not to mention that he will start today’s race from 5th position. Wallace had it dialed in last season on intermediate tracks, with 4 top 5’s on that style of track, including a 4th place finish in this very race last spring. For the “haters,” he ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. He brings sponsorship, he brings solid results to the table and he is a good driver at the end of the day. Just because you hate his skin color, or whatever other cop out reason you give, does not mean he’s going away. Bubba Wallace is going to be around for a long time. Get the fuck over it and life will go better for you. With that tangent out of our system, we predict that Wallace will be a threat for the win today and be up front through the race. A top 10 finish is a lock.
Before you starting chirping, yes, I know it isn’t a sexy pick, and no, it’s not really a bold pick either. But how do you bet against Kyle Larson in Las Vegas? 2 wins, 7 top 5’s, 11 top 10’s and 443 laps led in 15 starts. The last 3 spring races, he has finished 1-2-2, plus he won here last fall as well. He’s got an absolute rocket of a car this weekend, having the fastest pace on 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 lap averages, as well as securing his first front row start of the season, rolling off P2 this afternoon. With all of my building up of Larson, he’ll probably flame out spectacularly and y’all will start coming out of the woodwork with the “Wrong” and my personal favorite, “And… not” comments. Some races, the car that shows the most speed really is the fastest car. It’s not a trap. They actually are the best car. Larson has shown speed time and time again, both at this track and at other intermediate tracks and 2024 looks like that trend is continuing. Hendrick Motorsports has won each of the past 3 spring races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Kyle Larson in 2021, Alex Bowman in 2022 and William Byron in 2023) and we predict that they will make it a fourth straight year with a win as well, as Kyle Larson will bring home another victory in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube!
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