I'd hardly call it thrilling. We had the leader having a tire going down and someone capitalized on that. Not really that stellar in comparison to some other races we've had. Just my own opinion.
Brad Keselowski captures Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
76
By Joe Menzer
Brad Keselowski won the Kobalt 400 on Sunday, passing Kyle Busch to take the lead for good with just six laps remaining on a wild, wind-swept afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Busch ended up fading to fourth by the finish, with Joey Logano finishing second and Jimmie Johnson third.
Pole-sitter Kurt Busch led the first 33 laps, but was penalized for being too fast entering pit road on the first pit stop of the day and surrendered the lead to Joey Logano.
Logano led 63 laps, and then gave up the lead to his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski until the second caution came out on Lap 99 for debris (which turned out to be a water bottle) on the track.
Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch all opted to take two tires then, while most of the rest of the field took four. The 5.1-second stop enabled Johnson to take the lead for the first time â and he went on to lead a race-high 69 laps on the day.
But the pivotal moment of the race came after the cars of Regan Smith and Kyle Larson spun to bring out yet another caution with 51 laps to go.
That's when Logano, Keselowski and Austin Dillon decided to stay out while the rest of the field pitted. With the wind gusting up to 43 miles per hour, kicking up sand from the nearby desert that made it difficult to see at times, all three gambled that they would be able to go a total of 68 laps on their final tank of fuel, plus older tires than the rest of the field.
Todd Gordon, the crew chief for Logano, also said he was willing to take the risk because threatening weather was in the area, making it unlikely in his mind that his driver would be forced to go the full distance.
Shortly after the field went back to green and Kyle Busch made an incredible move to the outside to go from sixth to first, taking the lead from Logano, the biggest crash of the afternoon occurred with 43 laps remainining when Matt Kenseth got loose, triggering a wreck that also collected Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott and Carl Edwards.
That set up another restart with 35 to go â this time with Kyle Busch lined up on the outside as the leader, with Dillon behind. Logano lined up on the inside of the front row, with his teammate Keselowski lined up behind him.
And while Busch sailed away on that restart and then held the lead for the next 29 laps, Keselowski kept chipping away at his lead, eventually passing Logano for second and then grabbing the lead for good from Busch with six to go.
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | MANUFACTURER | STARTING POS. | LAPS | LAPS LED | + / - CHANGE IN POINTS STANDINGS SINCE LAST RACE. | FINAL STATUS DRIVER’S STATUS IN RACE: RUNNING, ENGINE, ELECTRICAL, ETC. | POINTS POINTS AWARDED BASED ON FINISH. | BONUS POINTS POINTS AWARDED FOR WINNING OR LEADING LAPS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
| 4 | 267 | 24 | 4
| Running | 44 | 4 |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano |
| 2 | 267 | 75 | 3
| Running | 40 | 1 |
| 3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 11 | 267 | 76 | 3
| Running | 40 | 2 |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch |
| 23 | 267 | 38 | 0 | Running | 38 | 1 |
| 5 | 3 | Austin Dillon |
| 5 | 267 | 2 | 1
| Running | 37 | 1 |
| 6 | 21 | Ryan Blaney |
| 14 | 267 | 0 | 7
| Running | 35 | 0 |
| 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
| 6 | 267 | 1 | -1
| Running | 35 | 1 |
| 8 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr |
| 20 | 267 | 0 | 4
| Running | 33 | 0 |
| 9 | 41 | Kurt Busch |
| 1 | 267 | 31 | 1
| Running | 33 | 1 |
| 10 | 5 | Kasey Kahne |
| 8 | 267 | 0 | 2
| Running | 31 | 0 |
| 11 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr |
| 10 | 267 | 0 | -1
| Running | 30 | 0 |
| 12 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr |
| 16 | 267 | 0 | 2
| Running | 29 | 0 |
| 13 | 31 | Ryan Newman |
| 21 | 267 | 0 | 3
| Running | 28 | 0 |
| 14 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger |
| 12 | 267 | 0 | 5
| Running | 27 | 0 |
| 15 | 27 | Paul Menard |
| 15 | 267 | 0 | 5
| Running | 26 | 0 |
| 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray |
| 29 | 267 | 0 | 1
| Running | 25 | 0 |
| 17 | 6 | Trevor Bayne |
| 28 | 267 | 0 | 2
| Running | 24 | 0 |
| 18 | 19 | Carl Edwards |
| 24 | 267 | 0 | -4
| Running | 23 | 0 |
| 19 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
| 9 | 267 | 10 | -4
| Running | 23 | 1 |
| 20 | 16 | Greg Biffle |
| 26 | 267 | 0 | 3
| Running | 21 | 0 |
| 21 | 10 | Danica Patrick |
| 18 | 267 | 0 | 1
| Running | 20 | 0 |
| 22 | 15 | Clint Bowyer |
| 35 | 267 | 0 | 3
| Running | 19 | 0 |
| 23 | 13 | Casey Mears |
| 22 | 267 | 0 | -2
| Running | 18 | 0 |
| 24 | 43 | Aric Almirola |
| 7 | 266 | 0 | -6
| Running | 17 | 0 |
| 25 | 7 | Regan Smith |
| 33 | 266 | 1 | -1
| Running | 17 | 1 |
| 26 | 34 | Chris Buescher |
| 25 | 266 | 0 | 0 | Running | 15 | 0 |
| 27 | 44 | Brian Scott |
| 32 | 266 | 0 | -1
| Running | 14 | 0 |
| 28 | 38 | Landon Cassill |
| 27 | 266 | 0 | 0 | Running | 13 | 0 |
| 29 | 95 | Michael McDowell |
| 30 | 266 | 0 | -1
| Running | 12 | 0 |
| 30 | 46 | Michael Annett |
| 37 | 265 | 0 | -1
| Running | 11 | 0 |
| 31 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto |
| 34 | 263 | 0 | 1
| Running | 10 | 0 |
| 32 | 23 | David Ragan |
| 31 | 262 | 0 | -1
| Running | 9 | 0 |
| 33 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt |
| 38 | 262 | 0 | 2
| Running | 8 | 0 |
| 34 | 42 | Kyle Larson |
| 17 | 262 | 0 | -6
| Running | 7 | 0 |
| 35 | 30 | Josh Wise |
| 39 | 259 | 0 | 2
| Running | 6 | 0 |
| 36 | 14 | Brian Vickers |
| 19 | 257 | 0 | -3
| Running | 5 | 0 |
| 37 | 20 | Matt Kenseth |
| 3 | 224 | 9 | -10
| Accident | 5 | 1 |
| 38 | 24 | Chase Elliott |
| 13 | 224 | 0 | -9
| Accident | 3 | 0 |
| 39 | 98 | Cole Whitt |
| 36 | 115 | 0 | -2
| Vibration | 2 | 0 |
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
