Kyle Larson delivers dominant NASCAR win at Las Vegas
Kyle Larson has put himself in the playoffs after winning Sunday's Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Larson dominated Sunday as he swept the stages, led 181 laps and held off a hard-charging Tyler Reddick on the final run to the checkered flag.
Reddick finished second. Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and William Byron all scored top-10 finishes in a race featuring six cautions.
Reddick didn't have the speed early in runs but he was able to chase down Larson at the end of all three stages. He finished second in stages 1 and 2 and then began pressuring Larson for the race lead with 10 laps remaining in the race. Reddick erased a one-second lead and put himself within two-tenths of a second with two laps remaining.
Reddick just couldn't complete the pass. He lost his momentum as Larson took the white flag.
Sunday marked the third time since 2021 that Larson led more than 100 laps at Las Vegas and won the race.
Hendrick Motorsports has won the last four spring races at Las Vegas. Larson has two of these wins while Alex Bowman and Byron each have one.
Mistakes and unexpected issues plagued other drivers with cars capable of winning the first traditional race of the season.
Byron, the defending winner of the spring Las Vegas race, fell one lap down in the opening stage after the wind blew a large garbage bag onto the grill of his Chevrolet. Byron had to head to pit road as the temperature of his engine reached 350 degrees.
Byron was able to recover and secure a top-10 finish.
Kyle Busch ran inside the top 10 in all three stages while scoring stage points in the first. A slow stop kept Busch from scoring points in stage 2 and then a penalty for pitting outside his box in the final stage dropped him to 30th and one lap behind the leaders. Busch finished 26th.
Bubba Wallace had his own issue on pit road. The team could not get the left front tire off during a stage 2 stop due to the lug nut. The team tried again during the stage 2 break and continued working into the final stage before finally removing the tire. Wallace was able to return to the track but was 12 laps down.
The Cup season continues Sunday, March 10, at Phoenix Raceway.
