Kyle Larson celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Kyle Larson left little to chance Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading a race best 103 laps and pulling away to a convincing 3.156-second win over Brad Keselowski to win his NASCAR Cup Series first victory in two years.
The 28-year-old from Elk Grove, California became the quickest winner in Hendrick Motorsports long and esteemed history, taking the checkered flag in only his fourth start in the team’s No. 5 Chevrolet.
It was a hard-earned and highly-emotional win for Larson, who missed most of last season serving a suspension for using racially-insensitive language. The popular young Californian was reinstated by NASCAR in the offseason after following a course of rehabilitation and sensitivity training. He came into the season with the Hendrick Motorsports opportunity, grateful and ready to redeem himself.
Larson was exuberant speaking to the team on the radio while driving under the checkered flag as the race winner. He did celebratory burnouts on the backstretch and then again under the flag-stand on the frontstretch telling his Hendrick Motorsports team on the car radio, “What a car, what an opportunity. Thank you, guys.”
Just as Larson was finishing his live television interview, Keselowski ran across the infield grass to shake Larson’s hand and congratulate him on a powerful race performance.
“I’m just really happy for him, I know he’s been through a lot in the last year and he’s a good kid who I’ve known for a little while and has a good family and I’m just happy to see him bounce back,” Keselowski said.
“He was really fast – had a lot of speed in all the lanes which was really impressive, usually you have to make a compromise, but they were really good. If Kyle Larson wasn’t here, we would have had a dominant day,” Keselowski added with a smile.
It was a highly competitive race from green to checkered flag with 27 lead changes among 12 different drivers. Five drivers led at least 20 laps. Keselowski won Stage 1 and Larson won Stage 2 – the first stage victories for both drivers this season.
In all, Larson led a race best six times, working his Chevrolet back to the front no matter the challenge, ultimately pacing the field for the last 30 laps en route to his seventh career win. It is his first on a 1.5-mile track after nine previous runner-up finishes on mile-and-a-half venues.
“It was such an awesome car,” Larson said. “Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody did a great job preparing this piece. It was so much fun to drive. I could go wherever I wanted to. I know we had a really good car once we would kind of get single-filed out; but just drafting early in the run was tough.
“But thank you so much Mr. Hendrick, Jeff Gordon and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for the amazing opportunity I’ve been gifted. Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet everybody at the engine shop. Thank you so much for all the hard work. This is definitely special.”
Larson and Keselowski managed to use the final portion of the race to get around the full-on Joe Gibbs Racing team, whose drivers combined to lead 53 laps on the afternoon. Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finished third and fourth. Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney was fifth, his first top 10 of the season.
Two more Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, driven by Martin Truex, Jr. and Christopher Bell ,were sixth and seventh, followed by last week’s winner, Hendrick Motorsport’s William Byron. Team Penske driver Joey Logano and Richard Petty Motorsport’s driver Erik Jones rounded out the top 10.
Larson’s teammate Chase Elliott finished 13th after overcoming several problems. His team had a jack issue in the pits and contact with another car made for multiple long pit stops.
“We were good on the short run, just didn’t quite have enough long run speed,” said Denny Hamlin, who led 47 laps on the day. “Certainly I thought it was a good start, we’ll just gather our data and try to figure out what we need to do to be better when we come back here and it really counts.”
Hamlin and Keselowski, who are still looking for their first wins of the 2021 season sit atop the championship points standings. Hamlin leads by 38 points over Keselowski and Larson is third.
NASCAR Cup Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV
Pennzoil 400 – March 7, 2021
1. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.
2. (10) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
3. (14) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267.
4. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
5. (26) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
6. (4) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 267.
7. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 267.
8. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.
9. (15) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
10. (29) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 267.
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12. (12) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
13. (8) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
14. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
15. (19) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 266.
16. (30) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 266.
17. (5) Michael McDowell, Ford, 266.
18. (13) Ryan Newman, Ford, 266.
19. (7) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 266.
20. (1) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 266.
21. (24) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 266.
22. (11) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 266.
23. (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 266.
24. (27) Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, 266.
25. (20) Cole Custer, Ford, 266.
26. (22) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 265.
27. (9) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 265.
28. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 262.
29. (25) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 262.
30. (34) B.J. McLeod(i), Ford, 260.
31. (31) Garrett Smithley(i), Chevrolet, 259.
32. (32) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, 259.
33. (36) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 256.
34. (37) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 255.
35. (35) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 252.
36. (38) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 246.
37. (33) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, Rear End, 188.
38. (28) Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 178.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 139.615 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 52 Mins, 7 Secs. Margin of Victory: 3.156 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 30 laps.
Lead Changes: 27 among 12 drivers.
Lap Leaders: K. Harvick 0;W. Byron 1-19;C. Elliott 20-26;K. Larson 27-30;D. Hamlin 31-43;K. Larson 44-52;J. Logano 53;B. Keselowski 54-55;J. Logano 56-61;C. Elliott 62-71;B. Keselowski 72-73;C. Elliott 74-78;B. Keselowski 79-82;R. Blaney 83;D. Hamlin 84-87;B. Keselowski 88-106;K. Larson 107-123;W. Byron 124-129;T. Reddick 130-136;M. McDowell 137-145;A. Alfredo # 146;K. Larson 147-169;D. Hamlin 170-185;M. Truex Jr. 186-191;D. Hamlin 192-205;K. Larson 206-225;D. Suarez 226-237;K. Larson 238-267.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kyle Larson 6 times for 103 laps; Denny Hamlin 4 times for 47 laps; Brad Keselowski 4 times for 27 laps; William Byron 2 times for 25 laps; Chase Elliott 3 times for 22 laps; Daniel Suarez 1 time for 12 laps; Michael McDowell 1 time for 9 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 7 laps; Joey Logano 2 times for 7 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 6 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 1 lap; Anthony Alfredo # 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 2,9,12,11,48,20,24,21,22,19
Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,2,11,24,12,48,20,19,18,9
Top 10 in Points: 1. Denny Hamlin – 187; 2. Brad Keselowski – 149; 3. Kyle Larson – 147 (1 Win); 4. Chase Elliott – 139; 5. Christopher Bell – 138 (1 Win); 6. Joey Logano – 138; 7. Kevin Harvick – 136; 8. Martin Truex, Jr. – 131; 9. Michael McDowell – 126 (1 Win); 10. Kurt Busch – 122.
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