William Byron took the lead in overtime and from there lead a 1-2-3 Hendrick Motorsports finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

HMS driver Kyle Larson, who appeared to be speeding to an easy win with five laps to go, finished second.

Third was Alex Bowman.

Bubba Wallace was fourth and Christopher Bell was fifth.

Byron led five times for 176 laps but needed help in the form of an unforced spin on the part of Aric Almirola with four laps to go to get the victory.

Byron took the lead from Martin Truex, Jr., who didn’t pit for tires during the caution, in OT and sped away to the checkers.

Truex finished seventh.

The race was a clean one with just one caution for a wreck prior to Almirola’s – that coming on Lap 182 when former teammates Brad Keselowski and pole-sitter Joey Logano made contact. Logano skidded into the infield, creating a sod storm. The resulting damage ended the Team Penske driver’s day.

Asked if Keselowski pinched him down, Logano, the defending series champion, said, Yeah, he did. I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it. It is what it is. What are you going to do, right? We got fenced.”

Keselowski, who became co-owner driver of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in the offseason, continued on but finished well down in the field and was involved in a wreck after the white flag waved

Kyle Busch, who won a week ago in his first race since joining Richard Childress racing slapped the wall early in Vegas and slowed his chances for going 2-0.

Josh Berry, who took the Hendrick seat of Chase Elliott – who broke his leg in a snowboarding incident in Colorado last week – had a tough day.

(This story will be updated shortly)

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las Vegas, Nevada

Sunday, March 5, 2023

1. (2)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 271.
2. (6)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 271.
3. (11)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 271.
4. (13)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 271.
5. (10)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 271.
6. (9)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 271.
7. (15)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 271.
8. (27)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 271.
9. (14)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 271.
10. (24)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 271.
11. (12)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 271.
12. (8)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 271.
13. (3)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 271.
14. (5)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 271.
15. (34)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 271.
16. (21)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 271.
17. (7)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 271.
18. (23)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 271.
19. (22)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, Accident, 270.
20. (19)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 270.
21. (18)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 270.
22. (4)  Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 270.
23. (31)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 270.
24. (16)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 270.
25. (17)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 270.
26. (35)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 269.
27. (26)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 269.
28. (20)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 269.
29. (32)  Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 269.
30. (25)  Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 269.
31. (28)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 268.
32. (36)  BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 266.
33. (29)  JJ Yeley, Ford, 265.
34. (33)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 265.
35. (30)  Cody Ware, Ford, 259.
36. (1)  Joey Logano, Ford, DVP, 183.

 

Average Speed of Race Winner:  142.98 mph.

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 50 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .622 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  4 for 26 laps.

Lead Changes:  13 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   J. Logano 1-9;W. Byron 10-36;B. Keselowski 37;T. Reddick 38-40;W. Byron 41-185;D. Hamlin 186-195;K. Larson 196-220;W. Byron 221;A. Bowman 222-223;B. Keselowski 224-227;K. Larson 228-265;W. Byron 266;M. Truex Jr. 267-269;W. Byron 270-271.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  William Byron 5 times for 176 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 63 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 10 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 9 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 5 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 3 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 3 laps; Alex Bowman 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,5,1,20,11,19,48,23,8,6

Stage #2 Top Ten: 24,5,48,19,20,23,1,11,6,4

 

 

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