Las Vegas Motor Speedway Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Before Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Erik Jones considered himself a sleeper entering the first race of the Playoffs. That was before the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota announced his presence by winning the pole for Sunday’s opening postseason race, the South Point 400. Jones toured the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway in 28.705 seconds (188.121 mph) to earn his first Busch Pole Award of the season and the secondRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Jimmie Johnson made a lot of eye contact with the reporters eager to gauge his Playoff expectations Thursday afternoon at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Media Day. The sincerity in his voice and the passion of his words left no doubt. He is as motivated as he has ever been to end a first of its kind season-long winless streak. A championship run now would certainly change the narrative. Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman have qualified forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – You can’t accuse Kevin Harvick of flying under the radar heading into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs—not a guy with seven victories in 26 regular-season races and speed in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Fords everywhere he goes. But Harvick isn’t approaching the postseason with the braggadocio of an odds-on favorite. “I’m just along for the show,” Harvick said during his appearance at a fan event at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa. “For us, we’ve had aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Viva Las Vegas…again? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in the track’s history, Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be hosting a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this season as they kick off the 10-race Playoff stretch with Sunday’s running of the South Point 400. Las Vegas began its life on the NASCAR circuit as a 1.5-mile oval with 12 degrees of banking in 1998, but following the 2006 running of the race, the track underwent a massive reconfiguration that saw progressive bankingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series headed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to kick off the annual West Coast swing in March 2017 and by the time the checkered flag flew, NASCAR was definitely the talk of the town. Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex, Jr. started the day on the front row, with Keselowski getting the early jump over Truex, leading 65 of the first 70 laps. Truex took over the lead at lap 76 following a restart after Kevin Harvick crashed on the frontstretch andRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer It’s the 26th and final race of the regular season. Three full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series regulars have combined to score 10 victories. The Xfinity Series returns Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second time this season. The battle to make the Playoffs, battle for the Regular Season Championship, and stage racing are just some of the storylines heading into the 26th race of the season. Coverage for the DC Solar 300 is scheduled to start Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET. Las Vegas has been on the Xfinity SeriesRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer For the 18th race of the season, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads out west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for their second visit this season. Teams using the NT1 Spec Engine versus those using OEM engines, stage racing, and the Playoffs are just some of the storylines heading into the 18th race of the season at Las Vegas. Coverage for the World of Westgate 200 is scheduled to start Friday at 9:00 p.m. ET. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been on the Truck Series schedule sinceRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Kasey Kahne will sit out the next three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, beginning in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Also announced Tuesday was Regan Smith taking driving duties for Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for at least those three events. The 18-time Cup winner sat out the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard due to lingering heat exhaustion, the first time he’s ever missed a Cup race in his entire 15-year career. Smith finished onRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer How can a driver fly under the radar in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Regular Season finale? Aric Almirola found out after multiple pit road penalties kept him from ever being a factor for the win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Almirola finished well outside the Top-20 after running just inside the top-10 throughout the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard. Although he avoided trouble, the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Fusion was busted for speeding on pit road twice, as well as pitting before pitRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer For the first time since winning the 2017 ARCA Racing Series Championship, Austin Theriault returns to National Series competition with On Point Motorsports. The 24-year-old driver will drive the No. 30 Toyota Tundra for a team that debuted at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this season. After winning the ARCA Racing Series Championship with Ken Schrader Racing, lack of sponsorship sidelined Theriault. Since then, he has been working as a spotter, driver coach, and competing in Late Model competition. The Las Vegas 350 at Las VegasRead More