It seems to be Christopher Bell’s world and we are just living in it. The back-to-back-to-back winner looks to make it four-in-a-row this weekend at Las Vegas, a track that has been dominated by Hendrick Motorsports. Our one’s to watch as NASCAR takes on a 1.5-mile intermediate track for the first time this season.
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
When: Sunday, Mar. 16, 3:30 PM EDT
Watch: Fox Sports One
Track Background
While Las Vegas Motor Speedway opened in 1972, it took NASCAR’s top series until 1998 before their engines would hum in Northern Las Vegas. The winner of the inaugural race was Mark Martin. Since then the track underwent some changes in the mid-2000’s adapting to the format today.
Nowadays, the circuit has 9 degrees of banking on the front stretch, 11 degrees of banking on the back stretch, and 20 degrees of banking into the turns.
Ones to Watch
This season has been owned by Bell, but William Byron is still the points leader. Those two are the only ones to earn a victory this season as well. They both are once again a few of the favorites to win this upcoming weekend.
Christopher Bell (20)
While Adam Stevens and Bell dominated the Fall race at Las Vegas last season, the Toyota Camry could not find victory lane. The oddity for those two is just how fast they were during the event. From Auto Racing Analytics, based on median lap speed, if the race were to have gone green for all 267 laps, Bell would have been the only driver to finish on the lead lap. No reason why his performance should change this weekend.
The 20 team does have some added pressure on their shoulders though. Not because of the need to win, but to make a mark in the history books. The last time a driver won four-in-a-row in the Cup Series was Jimmie Johnson in 2007. That same season Johnson won the championship, and won at Las Vegas. Not saying history always repeats it self, but sure is nice to think so for JGR.
Joey Logano (22)
Logano has qualified on the pole in the previous two Spring races. His team also gained the most recent victory at the track back in the Fall. The three-time champion has a rocketship out in the desert; his problem is finishing with the lead. Luckily for Logano, this weekend looks to be another top-ten finish.
Hendrick Motorsports
It seems everywhere the NASCAR Cup Series goes, HMS is a contender. This track is no different for the Rick Hendrick Chevrolets. Since 2022, HMS has won all but two races at Las Vegas. Chase Elliott is the only Hendrick driver to not earn a victory in the Gen-7 car at Vegas.
The dominant group out in the desert for Hendrick has been Kyle Larson’s and Cliff Daniel’s 5 team. Larson has earned two victories at the track since ’22 and leads the Cup Series in wins at intermediate tracks with five in that same time frame.
Both Alex Bowman and William Byron have earned a victory at Las Vegas as the 48 team’s win came in 2022, and Byron’s victory was in 2023. The 24 team has put together some phenomenal runs since 2022 as Byron has not finished outside of the top 13. That includes five finishes in the top ten.
