All three of NASCAR’s national series will be in action this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Series kicks off the weekend on the 1.5-mile track Friday night (MRN, 8:30 p.m. ET) followed by Saturday’s Xfinity Series race then capped by Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400.
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After a variation of the new Cup Series rules was used last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the full package will be on display in Vegas. Lower horsepower and other body style modifications will be joined by the implementation of aero ducts, designed to help foster tighter racing and closer competition.
A number of teams tested the rules at Las Vegas last month, but there are many unknowns now that they will be used in actual competition.
“Atlanta is a track that is very worn out and the cars slip and slide a lot,” said Aric Almirola. “Vegas has a lot more grip and the cars are going to be way faster. The tires aren’t going to wear out as much as they did at Atlanta.
“I think you’ll see what we saw on the restarts at Atlanta for much longer in Vegas. I don’t think it will last the entire fuel run, but I think the crazy, wild restarts are going to last more like 10 or 12 laps. I think it’s going to be wild and we’re going to have more three- and four-wide racing for a lot longer.”
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Kevin Harvick is the defending race winner while last week’s Atlanta victor Brad Keselowski won at Las Vegas last September.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series takes center stage Saturday afternoon for the Boyd Gaming 300. Currently, LVMS is riding a different winner streak in the NASCAR Xfinity Series that dates back to 2009 and has reached 11 different winners – Greg Biffle (2009), Kevin Harvick (2010), Mark Martin (2011), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2012), Sam Hornish Jr. (2013), Brad Keselowski (2014), Austin Dillon (2015), Kyle Busch (2016), Joey Logano (2017), Kyle Larson (2018 spring) and Ross Chastain (2018 fall).
Christopher Bell scored his first win of the season last Saturday in Atlanta and leads the series standings. However, he is only four points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones, who is off to a solid beginning in 2019 and scored a fourth-place Atlanta finish.
“This year is off to a great start,” Jones said. “There’s only been a few teams that have been able to consistently run inside the top-five both during the stages at the end of the race, and fortunately our No. 19 team has been one of them.”
Las Vegas native Kyle Busch, who climbed to the top of the all-time Truck Series win list last week with career victory number 52, is entered in all three national series races this weekend. He has one Truck Series win at LVMS when he was victorious last year.
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Heading into Friday night’s Strat 200, Grant Enfinger leads the series standings for the first time in his career. The ThorSport Racing driver won at Las Vegas last September and is looking for a second straight trip to Victory Lane.
The Las Vegas weekend actually gets a jump start on Thursday night when the K&N Pro Series West tackles the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. The division begins its 65th season with the Star Nursery 100, which will be part of a program of racing that also includes the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series on the half-mile dirt track.
