1. Chandler Smith edges Kyle Busch for the victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The stars were out for the Friday Nights Truck Series race, and we're not talking about the ones up in the sky. The field had a who's who of contenders looking to win a trophy, including two-time Cup Series Champion and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch.
The breathtaking opening sequence saw Kyle Busch take the lead from Zane Smith only to be tracked down about ten laps later. The two were then halted by a caution that forced them to pit road for fuel and tires. Smith came out of pit road near the lead, but Busch was shuffled back a bit.
Smith would get collected in a spin during the restart and sent to the back of the field after making repairs. As for Busch, he would retake the lead from the rookie driver, Carlson Hocevar on lap 43, but it wasn't without an impressive showing from the newcomer. After an intense battle at the front, Busch took the lead but was later forced to relinquish it under caution.
The action really heated up with only 22 laps to go when Chandler Smith made a power move during a restart and blew past Busch. Christian Eckes also made it by Rowdy but Busch would eventually gain the spot back. With 13 laps to go, Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek were hung up in the draft by their own boss on a restart, allowing Busch to grab second.
When he did finally get up to the bumper of leader, Christian Eckes, a last-second lane change sent the young man into the inside wall of the track. Busch went by relatively unscathed, bringing up yet another restart for fans to enjoy. This set up the penultimate restart where we would see Zane Smith take an early lead before getting overtaken by Chandler Smith
Busch fell back to third at this point and was struggling to keep pace with the other two drivers. He tried to mount one more comeback on the final lap of the race but could not capitalize on his momentum. This put Chandler Smith and Zane Smith side by side on the final lap before Chandler was able to slightly pull ahead win Friday night's race. This puts him in the playoffs come Fall, giving him a chance to run for a championship. As for Busch, he ended up third, which was probably disappointing to a guy that ran up front all day.
Fortunately for Busch, things swung around in his favor when Smith was later disqualified for a technicality. Smith moved to the bottom of the rankings and Busch was bumped up to second place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j81j_itrkc
2. Noah Gragson couldn't get it done during the NASCAR Xfinity Series race
The chaos that played out Friday night during the Camping World Truck Series race was only a precursor for what fans and drivers could expect in The Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon. In fact, between the race getting red-flagged for weather and several high stakes restarts throughout the evening, you could definitely make the case that fans got their money's worth.
Speaking of money, Las Vegas native Noah Gragson put all his money down on short pitting with inside 80 laps to go, which gave him fresher tires than the entire field. This also forced the rest of the drivers to pit in order to avoid losing time to Gragson, eventually giving him the lead again. But the caveat was that he was two laps short on fuel, forcing him to conserve in order to finish the race.
While Gragson tried to fall back in line and run through the 1.5-mile track at half throttle, he quickly lost three seconds to the leader, Justin Allgaier. Then he lost the second position to Ty Gibbs and had to recover second place on several restarts. There were even two occasions where Gragson was able to pull away from the field on the restart, only to get bottled up again when the caution came back out.
Unfortunately for Gragson, he fell victim to a bad restart with six laps to go and was passed by Ty Gibbs. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver then managed to hold off Gragson until a last-lap caution ended the race. This marked Gibbs's first win of the season and gives him a guaranteed spot in the playoffs come fall.
Although Gibbs capturing the checkered flag was a nice ending to an eventful day, it didn't come without controversy. Gibbs, who is competing in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series, accidentally made contact with fellow driver Ryan Sieg earlier in the race. Sieg tried to get revenge on him later on in the race but ended up taking himself out in the process.
"First of all, thank you to my lord and savior Jesus Christ," Gibbs said after winning the race. "Second, want to apologize to the No. 39 team (Sieg), my mistake putting them in the fence, so I want to say sorry."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTme8aKUTCo
3. Kyle Busch comes up short again after coming from the back of the pack
Kyle Busch might have come into Sunday's Penzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the hometown favorite, but that doesn't mean Sin City was going to be kind to him. Furthermore, with the addition of the next-gen car and a plethora of talent looking to make a name for themselves, it became obvious that Rowdy would have the deck stacked against him from the beginning.
Unfortunately for Busch, things only got worse after he got loose and hit the wall during a practice session on Saturday. This forced Busch to go to a backup car and not be allowed to qualify. He wound up starting in the back of the pack and needing to work his way up to the front throughout the 267 circuits around the track. Busch would eventually grab the lead on a restart with about 40 laps to go, knocking young gun Ross Chastain off the point in the process. Chastain would then lose position to Martin Truex Jr, leaving the two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers to battle it out for the victory. Truex Jr would need to reel in Busch to accomplish that, though.
Despite taking ten laps to do it, Truex Jr would eventually get to Busch's bumper and start to utilize the inside line to get to his door. Busch responded by changing lanes in hopes of shaking off his teammate, forcing them both to try new strategies. The two would trade the lead for much of the race's closing laps, making it quite the show for Las Vegas fans.
An untimely caution came out with five laps to go after Erik Jones tried to stabilize his car on the bottom but ended up coasting back up the track. This forced the leaders to hit pit row, where Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson would move into the lead, and Busch was set back to fourth. He did get four tires though, giving him an advantage.
None of that mattered though, as the restart would be dominated by Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman, who pulled away from the pack. Bowman and Larson were caught in a drag race in the race's final lap, but Larson seemed to get loose and hand the leading position to Bowman on the final turn. This marks Bowman's first win of the year and guarantees him a spot in the playoffs. Busch eventually finished fourth in what had to be another disappointing day. His attention now must turn to the Phoenix International Raceway, where he will be searching for his first win of the year.
Fellow Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, also had a difficult day in front of him but recovered to finish 13th by the end of the afternoon. It was a slow slow finish for the 23XI Racing driver and could call into question what the organization does going forward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_C_hs-WpYc