All three of NASCAR’s national series will race this weekend
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, with the Camping World Truck
Series racing Friday, Xfinity Series racing Saturday, and the Monster Energy
NASCAR Cup Series running Sunday.
Here’s a quick look at some interesting statistics and
tidbits heading into the weekend.
- This weekend’s race marks the 22nd for the series in the
state of Nevada, and 21st at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Norm Nelson won the
first Cup Series race in Nevada in 1955, at the Las Vegas Park Speedway. It was
his only victory in the series. Mark Martin won the first Cup Series race at
LVMS in 1998.
- The winner of the most series races at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway is Jimmie Johnson, who owns four victories. He last won at the track
in 2010.
- Overall, a total of 12 drivers have won Cup Series races
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- Martin Truex Jr. is the defending race winner of the
Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube last March. It marked his eighth career
Cup Series victory and first of eight wins in 2017.
- Drivers who have won at Las Vegas and gone on to win the
series championship in the same season include: Jeff Gordon (2001); Matt
Kenseth (2003); Jimmie Johnson (2006, 2007 and 2010); and Martin Truex Jr.
(2017).
- Drivers who have won the Cup Series race and the Xfinity
Series race at Las Vegas include: Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Carl
Edwards, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.
- The last driver to win consecutive races at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway was Jimmie Johnson, who won three straight between 2005 and
2007. Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth have also won consecutive races at the
track.
- Brad Keselowski, who won the 2014 and 2016 races at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway, has led six consecutive races at the track, the most of
any driver heading into this weekend’s race. Joey Logano has led a lap in each
of the last four races.
- A different manufacturer has won each of the last three
years: Chevrolet (2015); Ford (2016) and Toyota (2017). Ford has a track-high
nine wins at Las Vegas.
- Brad Keselowski holds the record for average speed,
winning the 2014 race at 154.633 mph.
- Jimmie Johnson hasn’t finished in the top 10 in eight
consecutive races, the worst streak of his career. He is also on a 24-race
winless streak, also the worst of his career.
- Kyle Busch is the only driver to win from the pole position
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He won the 2009 race, which ran a race-record 285
laps.
- The driver to lead the most laps of a race at Las Vegas
Motor Speedway has gone on to win the race only nine times in 21 events (1998,
1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015 and 2017).
- Jimmie Johnson led the fewest laps of a race that a driver
won, leading only the final lap of the 2006 race.
- Jeff Gordon led the most laps of a driver who did not win
the race, pacing 219 laps of the 2010 race before finishing third.
- Only one race has not gone the scheduled distance or more.
Jeff Burton won the 2000 race, cut 119 laps short (from 267 laps to 148 laps)
due to rain.
- Kyle Busch is the last driver to win back-to-back races in
the Cup Series, having won last year’s playoff races at New Hampshire Motor
Speedway and Dover International Speedway.
- Martin Truex Jr. is the only driver to lead laps in each
of the past three races – the 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway
and the first two races of the 2018 season. Truex, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and
Joey Logano are the only four drivers to lead each of the first two races in
2018.
- Kevin Harvick has 99 career NASCAR national series
victories.
- Kurt and Kyle Busch are the only two drivers in the Cup
Series from Nevada.
- Drivers entered for this weekend’s race that will be
competing for the first time at Las Vegas are: Ross Chastain, Gray Gaulding,
William Byron, Joey Gase, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Cole Custer. Custer is the
only driver of the five making his series debut. Byron (Daytona) made his first
career Cup Series races this season. Byron, Gaudling and Custer have all turned
20 years old within the past four months.
- Matt Kenseth started the furthest back of any race winner,
when he won from the 25th position in 2004. Race winners have come from outside
the top 10 starting positions 10 of 20 races, and outside the top 20 in four
races.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
(Boyd Gaming 300; 4 p.m. ET Saturday)
- This is the 22nd race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The
first race came in 1997, with Jeff Green taking the victory from the pole
position.
- Mark Martin and Jeff Burton lead all drivers in Xfinity
Series victories at Las Vegas with three each.
- Joey Logano is the defending race winner at Las Vegas.
Overall, a total of 15 drivers have won an Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas.
- Each of the last four race winners at Las Vegas were Cup
Series regulars (Keselowski, 2014; Austin Dillon, 2015; Kyle Busch, 2016; and
Logano). Sam Hornish Jr. was the last Xfinity Series regular to win at Las
Vegas, doing so in 2013.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the only driver to win at Las Vegas
and go on to win the series championship in the same season, when he did so in
2012.
- Chevrolet has 10 Xfinity Series victories at Las Vegas,
while Ford is one behind with nine. Dodge and Toyota each have won win at Las
Vegas.
- Drivers have won the Xfinity Series race from the pole
position five times at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Jeff Green (1997); Mark Martin
(1999); Jeff Burton (2002); Austin Dillon (2015); and Kyle Busch (2016).
- Drivers who have led the most laps in the race at Las
Vegas have gone on to win the race 14 of 21 times. Kyle Busch was the last
driver to lead the most laps of a race and not win, when he led 84 laps in the
2011 race. Interestingly enough, in the same race, Mark Martin led only the
final lap, the only time a driver has led one lap in a Las Vegas victory.
- Kyle Busch led 199 of the 200 laps in the 2016 Xfinity
Series race at Las Vegas, at a race-record average speed of 145.415 mph.
- Joe Nemechek started the furthest back of any race winner,
when he won from the 29th position in 2003.
- Kyle Busch is the last driver to win consecutive races in
the Xfinity Series, when he won back-to-back events at Kentucky Speedway in
Sparta and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon last July.
- Kyle Busch and Spencer Gallagher are the only two Nevada drivers entered for the Xfinity Series race; both hail from Las Vegas.
- Kyle Busch and Spencer Gallagher are the only two Nevada drivers entered for the Xfinity Series race; both hail from Las Vegas.
NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series (Stratosphere 200; 9 p.m. ET Friday)
- This is the 22nd race for the Camping World Truck Series
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The first race came in 1996, when Jack Sprague
won. Sprague added a second victory at LVMS in 1998.
- Sprague and Mike Skinner are the only two drivers with
multiple Truck Series victories at Las Vegas – two each (Skinner in 2006 and
2008).
- Each of the last nine races at Las Vegas have been won by
a first-time Vegas winner.
- Ben Rhodes is the defending Truck Series winner at Las
Vegas. He is entered to compete in this weekend’s race.
- No driver has ever won the Truck Series race at Las Vegas
and gone on to win the series championship in the same season.
- Chevrolet has nine Truck Series victories at Las Vegas,
while Toyota has six, Ford has four and Dodge has two.
- Seven drivers have won the Truck Series race at Las Vegas
from the pole position, though Ron Hornaday Jr. was the last driver to do so,
in 2011.
- Drivers who have led the most laps of a Truck Series race
at Las Vegas have won the race only eight times in 21 chances, with Tyler
Reddick the last driver to lead the most laps and win. Reddick also set a
race-record average speed of 143.163 mph.
- Shane Hmiel won the 2004 race, leading only the final two
laps (he started 21st, the furthest back a driver has started and won). His two
laps in a Truck Series race at Las Vegas are the fewest for a race winner. Two
other drivers – Joe Ruttman in 1997 and Timothy Peters in 2013 – led only three
laps en route to victory.
- Todd Bodine (2005) and Mike Skinner (2006) have each led
114 laps en route to victory, the most laps led by a Truck Series race winner
at Las Vegas.
- Six drivers entered for the Truck Series race are under
the age of 21: Spencer Davis, John Hunter Nemechek, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley,
Dalton Sargeant and Justin Fontaine. Defending race winner Ben Rhodes turned 21
on February 21. Gragson and Kyle Busch are the only drivers entered from Nevada.
- Johnny Sauter is last driver to win consecutive races in
the Camping World Truck Series, when he won back-to-back races at Texas Motor
Speedway and ISW Raceway (Phoenix) last November.
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