Congratulations to Kevin Harvick on getting his first win of the 2014 season and his first win at Stewart/Haas Racing. Kevin did it in dominating fashion leading 224 of the 312 laps that were run on the day. He also survived multiple restarts at the end of the race and cruised to the victory.
KOBALT 400
This week the series stays out west as the drivers head for Las Vegas and the running of the Kobalt 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Las Vegas will be the first mile and a half track that the series will visit this season and that makes it the third different type of track we have seen this season. Let’s find out which drivers are going to impress this week.
Jimmie Johnson: Jimmie is my pick to win this week’s race in Las Vegas. He has four career wins at this track, finished second to Tony Stewart here two years ago, and he looked very good late in the race last week at Phoenix. Chad Knaus got the car to handle the way Jimmie wanted it to late in the race, but a slew of caution flags kept Jimmie from moving up in the field.
Matt Kenseth: As I just mentioned, Matt won this race last season and has won three races at this track during his career. This is the type of track that he capitalized on all last year and this is most likely the type of track that he will get a Chase qualifying win at this season.
Tony Stewart: Tony won this race two years ago and has run consistently well here since joining Stewart/Haas Racing back in 2009. Tony hasn’t gotten off to the best start yet this season and the teams have lost three engines in the first two races of this season, but he looked much better last week at Phoenix and they get their equipment from Hendrick Motorsports. He is still recuperating from a broken leg from last season and a nice mile and a half track is just what the doctor ordered.
Carl Edwards: Carl has two career wins at this track and has finished in the top five in his last three starts here. This team has run well the first two weeks of the season and it looks like they might be back to the form they were in three years ago. I haven’t seen any problems with the Roush/Fenway engines this season and they seem to have a lot of power and speed in them. Just what you are looking for at Las Vegas.
Greg Biffle: Although Greg has never won at this track, he has finished in the top ten in sixty percent of his starts here and has lead laps in sixty percent of all of his starts here. That just tells me that sooner or later Greg is going to win a race here. He is always very good at this type of track and would like nothing better than another top ten finish after a disappointing finish last week at Phoenix.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Dale is having a great early season as he won the Daytona 500 and finished second at Phoenix last week in a race that he had a great car, but couldn’t really do anything with Kevin Harvick. This is the type of track that Dale loves to race at and with the teams momentum at a high right now, it wouldn’t surprise me if he won this race too.
Kevin Harvick: Speaking of momentum, Kevin is at the top of the list right now. After getting his first win for Stewart/Haas Racing last week in only his second start for the team, he is looking to keep his momentum going. This week will tell us a lot about how good this team is going to be all season. Kevin hasn’t been bad at Las Vegas throughout his career, but he has just been average. He hasn’t shown the consistency that you need as a driver to make me want him on my team this week. However, I think that he has better equipment now than he has had in the past and that might be all that it takes for him to improve here.
Kyle Busch: Kyle is a driver who has run consistently well at Las Vegas and it is his hometown track. He would like nothing better than to come away with the checkered flag in front of his hometown crowd. He won here back in 2009 and finished fourth in this race last season. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this guy is a threat to win every week, no matter what type of track they are racing on and this week will be no different.
Kasey Kahne: Kasey has had his ups and downs since joining Hendrick Motorsports, but this is the type of track that he can let it all hang out at. He finished second to Matt Kenseth here last year and lead 114 laps in that race. He has also sat on the pole here three times in ten starts so that shows you that he knows the fast way around this track. If he can stay out of trouble and make the right adjustments to his car late in the race he will contend for the win this weekend.
YAHOO! FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Yahoo Driver Group A
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
Yahoo Driver Group B
- Carl Edwards
- Tony Stewart
- Greg Biffle
- Joey Logano
Yahoo Driver Group C
- Kyle Larson
- Austin Dillon
MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Carl Edwards
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Kasey Kahne
Dark Horse: Martin Truex Jr.
Stay Away From: Kurt Busch