The third race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was shaping up to be a Roush Fenway Racing parade. Matt Kenseth won the pole but the top 10 featured five Ford’s. Rebound Ready… Last week Carl Edwards exclaimed at Phoenix that the fastest car was wrecked out of the race. Edwards who was involved in an early accident wasn’t able to prove that. Sunday at LVMS Edwards started third and had a fast car early. Pit strategy saw Edwards forced to work his way to the front. Tony Stewart who was the class of the field all day lost the lead under green flag stops due to pit strategy. Edwards was able to pull away from Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya. Edwards found victory lane and is showing early that he will be a contender for this title. Edwards moved up to third in the standings. Right call? For the second year in a row the driver who led the most laps didn’t win the race at LVMS. Last year it was Jeff Gordon. Gordon lost the lead late when he took two tires instead of four on the final pit stop. He was eventually passed by Jimmie Johnson and finished third. On Sunday, Stewart dominated the race but on the second to last pit stop took two tires while most everyone else took four. He was able to pull away and build a four second lead. He hit pit road for the final stop and because of his gamble on the previous stop he was forced to take four tires. The extended pit stop cost him the lead and the win. Stewart finished second but has to wonder like Gordon last year, what if? Trending… Trevor Bayne and Edwards finished first and second at Daytona. The next weekend at PIR, Bayne and Edwards both wrecked out. Meanwhile last week’s winner in Gordon and runner up Kyle Busch both saw their days ended early with troubles. Busch suffered a mechanical problem and literally his day went up in smoke. He finished 38th and dropped to 14th in the standings. Gordon was running top 10 all day and just as the teams were preparing for pit stops, Gordon cut a tire. He hit the wall hard and saw his top 10 run ended early and he finished 36th. Gordon dropped to 19th in the standings heading into Bristol Motor Speedway. Aussie gets it done… It was Marcos Ambrose’s third start for Richard Petty Motorsports he scored his first top five finish with the legendary team. Ambrose started second and looked like he would challenge for the lead but he just didn’t have the car. He and his team did though run top 10 all day and when it counted they got it done on pit road. Ambrose finished fourth and moved to 17th in the standings. Lug Nuts: · Stewart and Kurt Busch are tied atop the standings. · Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was the highest finishing Hendrick Motorsports driver in eighth. · Greg Biffle started fourth but fueling issues cost them under green, he finished 28th. Next up is Jeff Byrd 500 on Sunday, March 20th at 1ET on FOX.
photo: nascar.com
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