Ricky Stenhouse Jr. celebrates his third career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory following the Sam's Town 300 on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dominated the last 50 laps of Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, pulling away from Mark Martin during a 39-lap green flag run the finish.
The victory was Stenhouse’s first of the season and third in the series — and his first on a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway, the staple of NASCAR’s top three touring series.
Points leader Elliott Sadler came home third, followed by Trevor Bayne and Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan. Cole Whitt, Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Sam Hornish Jr., and Kasey Kahne completed the top 10.
“To win on a mile-and-a-half (racetrack) is big for me,” Stenhouse said. “I feel like our cars are better than I am at some mile-and-a-halfs, and I feel like I drive really hard at the short tracks. I think we’ve got a really good package going now, and to get that win on a mile-and-a-half feels good.”
First out of the pits after a stop under caution on lap 146, Stenhouse drove away from Martin after a restart on lap 162, opening a lead of 4.785 seconds with 20 laps left. The defending Nationwide champion maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way.
Even if he hadn’t won the race off pit road on lap 146, Stenhouse felt he had the winning car.
“I definitely think we had the car to beat — I feel like we could have started sixth and still won that race there at the end,” Stenhouse said. “I found a line that I like to run, the car was coming around to it, (crew chief) Mike Kelley made some awesome pit calls there, and I just think we had the car to beat.”
Martin said the last green-flag run was no contest.
“That was one serious beat-down he put on me that last run,” Martin said. “I mean just a beat-down. I kept up with him for a while and about wrecked five times, and that’s it. The run before that (when Martin was leading)? It was no problem. I could stay ahead of him, and any time he would close in on me, I could get up on the wheel and pull back out.
“But that last run, he seemed to be stronger. I didn’t feel my car was off. He just had that thing rolling. I’m not ashamed to say it wasn’t even close.”
Fighting an extremely loose handling condition, Kyle Busch spun off turn 2 and backed his No. 54 Toyota into the inside wall on lap 26. Busch drove the car to the garage, where he lost 70 laps while his team made repairs.
Story by Reid Spencer
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV
Sam’s Town 300 – March 10, 2012
1. (6) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 200, $107,863.
2. (7) Mark Martin, Toyota, 200, $55,650.
3. (1) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 200, $53,668.
4. (14) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 200, $37,293.
5. (9) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 200, $32,993.
6. (22) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 200, $31,143.
7. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, $22,625.
8. (8) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200, $28,018.
9. (13) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 200, $26,928.
10. (2) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 200, $21,075.
11. (18) Kenny Wallace, Toyota, 200, $28,418.
12. (12) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 200, $25,268.
13. (21) Michael Annett, Ford, 200, $24,718.
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15. (19) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 200, $18,455.
16. (17) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, 200, $23,738.
17. (24) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 198, $23,753.
18. (32) Blake Koch, Ford, 198, $23,418.
19. (15) Johanna Long, Chevrolet, 198, $23,308.
20. (31) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 198, $23,873.
21. (25) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 197, $23,088.
22. (43) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 197, $16,485.
23. (5) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 196, $16,350.
24. (40) Robert Richardson Jr., Chevrolet, 196, $22,708.
25. (27) Eric McClure, Toyota, 196, $23,033.
26. (42) Daryl Harr, Chevrolet, 194, $22,438.
27. (10) Jason Bowles, Toyota, 188, $22,303.
28. (16) Kyle Fowler, Ford, Oil Cooler, 165, $15,690.
29. (35) Tim Schendel, Chevrolet, 164, $15,540.
30. (29) Benny Gordon, Chevrolet, 146, $15,705.
31. (38) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, Engine, 140, $21,763.
32. (36) Derrike Cope, Dodge, Electrical, 137, $21,653.
33. (20) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 127, $15,075.
34. (4) Brian Scott, Toyota, Accident, 94, $21,433.
35. (34) Erik Darnell, Chevrolet, Fly Wheel, 91, $14,855.
36. (37) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Dodge, Steering, 72, $14,820.
37. (30) Joey Gase, Ford, Accident, 41, $21,243.
38. (23) JJ Yeley, Ford, Oil Pump, 39, $14,740.
39. (33) Chase Miller, Chevrolet, Electrical, 6, $14,490.
40. (28) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 4, $14,455.
41. (39) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Electrical, 4, $14,400.
42. (26) Scott Speed, Chevrolet, Vibration, 3, $14,355.
43. (41) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, Vibration, 3, $14,311.
Race statistics
Average Speed: 129.969 mph.
Time of Race: 2 hours, 21 minutes, 46 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 5.904 seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 8 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: E. Sadler 1-26; J. Yeley 27-28; K. Kahne 29-47; B. Scott 48-52; K. Kahne 53-73; B. Keselowski 74-100; M. Wallace 101; M. Martin 102-145; R. Stenhouse Jr. 146-200.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 55 laps; M. Martin 1 time for 44 laps; K. Kahne 2 times for 40 laps; B. Keselowski 1 time for 27 laps; E. Sadler 1 time for 26 laps; B. Scott 1 time for 5 laps; J. Yeley 1 time for 2 laps; M. Wallace 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: E. Sadler – 131; A. Dillon – 116; R. Stenhouse Jr. – 114; T. Bayne – 112; C. Whitt – 109; S. Hornish Jr. – 98; T. Malsam – 90; M. Annett – 82; J. Allgaier – 76; B. Koch – 66.
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