Event statistics
following the third race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season,
the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las
Vegas, Nevada.
Kevin Harvick
scored his second consecutive series victory in dominating fashion, leading 214
of the 267 laps to win by almost three seconds over Las Vegas native Kyle
Busch.
Pennzoil 400 presented
by Jiffy Lube
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
– Las Vegas, Nevada
- Winner
(starting position): Kevin Harvick (2nd)
- Top Five: Kevin
Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney
- Full
Results: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney,
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola, Ryan
Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chris Buescher,
Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Trevor Bayne, Darrell
Wallace Jr., Matt DiBenedetto, David Ragan, Ty Dillon, Cole Custer, Daniel
Suarez, William Byron, Cole Whitt, Ross Chastain, A.J. Allmendinger, Jeffrey
Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Gray Gaulding, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray,
Michael McDowell
- Laps
Completed: 267
- Race Leaders:
6
- Laps Led: Kevin
Harvick (214), Joey Logano (25), Michael McDowell (11), Kyle Busch (10), Martin
Truex Jr. (6), Ryan Blaney (1)
- Pole Position: Ryan Blaney (191.489 mph; 28.200
seconds)
- Hard
Charger: Aric Almirola (+19; 29th to 10th)
- Margin of
Victory: 2.906 seconds
- Car Count: 37
- Cars
Entered: 37
- Cars
Running at Finish: 32 (of 37; or 86 percent of the field)
- Drivers to
Finish on Lead Lap: 9
- Cautions: 4
for 29 laps
- Average
Speed: 141.756 mph
- Lead
Changes: 11
- Stage
Winners: Kevin Harvick (1), Kevin Harvick (2)
- Weather at
Start of Race: 55 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, winds NW 13 mph
- Weather at
End of Race: 57 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, winds N6 mph
-
Manufacturer Breakdown: Chevrolet (17); Ford (14); Toyota (8)
Notes of Interest – Race/Weekend
Recap
- This is
Kevin Harvick’s second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory of the season
and the 39th of his career, tying him for 19th all-time with Matt Kenseth. It
marks his second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; he also won in 2015.
- Harvick led
a race-high 214 laps in the race, the most a driver has ever led at Las Vegas
in a Cup Series race and won. Jeff Gordon led 219 laps in the 2010 race only to
finish second.
- This is
Harvick’s 13th victory on a mile-and-a-half track, and the fifth time he’s won
back-to-back races.
- This is
Harvick’s 100th career NASCAR national victory. He now has 39 Cup Series wins,
47 in the Xfinity Series and 14 in the Truck Series.
- This is the
second time in his career Harvick has won from the second starting position and
first time since the 2006 fall race at ISW Raceway (Phoenix).
- This marks
the second consecutive race at Las Vegas that a driver has won from the second
starting position and fourth overall. The race was won from second in 2008
(Carl Edwards); 2014 (Brad Keselowski); and Martin Truex Jr. (2017).
- Harvick has
now won at least two races in each of the last six Cup Series seasons and 10
seasons overall. He has won at least one race in 15 seasons and nine straight.
- This is
Harvick’s 16th victory with Stewart-Haas Racing. He has tied team owner Tony
Stewart with the most team victories. Stewart-Haas Racing now has 41 MENSC
wins.
- Harvick has
now led 395 laps in the last two weekends, which has consisted of 592 laps (spent
66.7 percent of the laps in the lead).
- This is Harvick’s
fourth victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Cup Series and Xfinity
Series, as he has two victories in each at the track.
- Harvick has
already tied his 2017 wins total of two – in just the first three races.
- This is
Ford’s 10th Cup Series victory at Las Vegas, extending its series-high victory
total.
- Kyle Busch
finished second, his best finish since winning the 2009 race. He has finished
in the top five six times in 14 races. Busch won the 50th Camping World Truck
Series race of his career Friday.
- In his
150th Cup Series race, Kyle Larson finished third, his second top-three finish
at the track. Larson was second in the 2017 Cup Series race.
- Defending
race winner Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth, his third top-five finish at Las
Vegas in the last four seasons. Truex also extended his streak of races led to
a series-high four.
- Polesitter Ryan
Blaney, who finished fifth, led one lap, the first Cup Series race he has ever
led at Las Vegas. It was Blaney’s first top-five finish of 2018.
- Blaney now
has three pole positions, including two in the last five races (ISW Raceway
last November). This weekend was his first pole with Team Penske and first at
Las Vegas.
- Brad
Keselowski finished sixth, his sixth top-seven finish in 10 races at the track –
all in succession (had never finished better than 26th in first four races at
Las Vegas).
- Joey Logano
finished seventh, ensuring all three Team Penske cars finished in the top
seven. Logano led one lap; he’s now led all three races this season, for a
total of 29 laps. He’s the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all three
races this season.
- Erik Jones
finished a season-best eighth, besting his previous season-best finish of 11th
at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Jones was the last driver to finish on the lead lap.
- Aric
Almirola joined Harvick as a top-10 finisher for Stewart-Haas Racing, finishing
a season-best 10th. Almirola was the first car a lap down. The last time less
than 10 cars finished on the lead lap was the 2017 Southern 500 at Darlington
Raceway, when only eight cars finished on the lead lap.
- Jimmie
Johnson scored the best finish of his season – 12th. He was the highest
finishing of the four Hendricks Motorsports drivers, with Alex Bowman 16th
(season-best); William Byron 27th; and Chase Elliott 34th. Johnson has now gone
nine consecutive races without a top 10 and 26 straight races without a victory
– the longest such streaks of his career.
- Cole Custer
was the only driver in the race making his series debut. He finished 25th,
three laps down.
- Others
earning their season-best finishes included Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (14th); Kasey
Kahne (19th); Matt DiBenedetto (22nd); Ty Dillon (24th); Ross Chastain (29th);
Joey Gase (32nd; season debut);
- Kurt Busch
finished 35th, in an attempt to win the race as a hometown driver. He was involved
in one of two accidents, as he spun and hit the wall, collecting Chase Elliott.
Jamie McMurray was the only other driver involved in an incident.
- Michael
McDowell finished 40th, dropping out early in the second stage with mechanical
problems. He led 11 laps, the most he’s ever led in a single Cup Series race,
and matched the number of laps led the previous four seasons (11 total between
the 2014 and 2017 seasons). He had never led more than four laps in a Cup
Series race before Sunday.
- In each of
the first three races, one driver has led more than half of the laps in a race
(Ryan Blaney – Daytona; Kevin Harvick – Atlanta and Las Vegas).
- A total of 25
drivers improved on their starting position in the race, which was a
season-high.
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