Second-place finisher Joey Logano, on the effects of the wind and rain on the race. The 5.1-second stop enabled Johnson to take the lead for the first time – and he went on to lead a race-high 76 laps on the day, one more than Logano.
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The progressively-banked Las Vegas Motor Speedway has, in recent years, signaled the year’s first chance to get a real feel for NASCAR’s balance-of-power at the relatively similar intermediate tracks that make up the majority of the Chase schedule.
Fellow Joe Gibbs drivers Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones finished second and third, respectively.
“Just disappointing.”, Elliott said.
The dramatic weather, something that’s been absent in practice all week, has left teams scrambling to adjust to winds that will unsettle cars that, thanks to the new low downforce package, are already on-the-limit of control.
“It took me too much time to figure out how to be fast in a loose race vehicle in traffic”, Suarez said of his inability to challenge teammate Busch.
“This Toyota Camry was really, really fast today”, Busch told Fox Sports after the race. We’ve got you covered. “I was hoping we would have some long-run speed at the end but Suarez definitely faster than us when he had a clean track”.
Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to take four tires on their final pit stop on Lap 199. The wind regularly blew debris into the drivers’ grills, getting pole-sitter Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson in the opening laps.
That’s when Logano, Keselowski and Austin Dillon made a decision to stay out while the rest of the field pitted. He regained one lap with a wave-around in the second caution period and then was the beneficiary of the race’s third yellow flag, returning him to the lead lap.
“We’re going to love (the track position)”, Busch said of Sunday’s Kobalt 400. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to the Arizona desert next Sunday as the green flies over the good Sam 500.
After a pair of top-10 finishes in those races, it seems that he would be a fan.
Busch inherited last week’s pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway after his younger brother Kyle’s time was disallowed for a post qualifying inspection infraction.
Chase Elliott, a former series champ and the victor of the XFINITY season opener at Daytona, finished fourth in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.
Both cars, that were competitive in the race, were severely damaged in the melee that also saw Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch slide through.
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Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was anxious about the sandstorm that almost overtook the track during the second half of the race. McMurray came in 16th, while Edwards finished 18th.
