Nascar Pit Road Week 3

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
 

Birthday Boy Matt Kenseth Celebrates in Victory Lane.

 

Week three of the Sprint Cup season is in the books after the only trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on the year.  This week showed it was good to be the birthday boy. With the win on his birthday Matt Kenseth showed in Las Vegas that he wont have a hangover after changing rides and every part of his team. Kenseth has gotten off to a hot start to start 2013 and if the team really starts to gel could be a contender as always down the stretch. The race itself wasn't very action packed, which we may hear a lot about this week. (Well until Nascar mussels another driver). Lucky for Nascar Bristol is next in line and as always wont be short on drama. Matt Kenseth finished this week with fast restarts and held off Kasey Kahne to get a great Birthday present. For full results of the Kobalt 400 go here: Results from Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Rising, Coasting, and Falling Drivers after Las Vegas Motor Speedway 2013

 

Risers:

• Kyle Busch- Did anyone need this kind of race more than Kyle? Already having one DNF on the season and struggling to get going after his hot end to last season, Kyle made a huge jump on Sunday with a 4th place finish. Kyle had a good car all day, and lead some laps to boot, but just didn't have enough to stay with Kahne and Kenseth.
• Kasey Kahne- Speaking of needing a good finish, Kahne was in the same boat before the Kobalt 400. Kahne had a great car all day and it showed by leading the most laps at Vegas. Kahne was trying to put a run together at the end of the race, but couldn't find a groove to get around Kenseth. Finishing 2nd after the tough start for the #5 team is a great start to get going before it's too late.
• Paul Menard- Paul Menard, the guy who has become Mr. Consistent in the Top 20, broke out of it for a top 10. I will give him a risers spot just for the fact that he had an alright race and managed to get the car in the top 10. At the end of the season Menard will likely finish around the early 20's, but finishes like this one at Vegas could help him more to the top 15 and maybe he can pull a win out to try and squeak into the chase. Chances are he finishes in the 20's.
• Martin Truex Jr- Quietly putting together a top 10 run on Sunday, Truex Jr finished 8th and got out of the slump he has started the season on.
• Honorable mention: Brad Keselowski (Turns career bad finishes at Vegas into a 3rd place finish), and Carl Edwards (Stayed strong with a top 5 finish after his win at Phoenix with a 5th)

Coasting:

• Dale Earnhardt Jr- Jr fell off from his back to back top 5's to a dismal 7th place finish.  This is a great start for this Hendrick team and I'm sure it has everything to do with Dales new diet. All kidding aside Dale couldn't be happier with where he stands early in the season.
• Kevin Harvick- Harvick took his 13th place finish last week and turned it into a 9th place finish this week. After getting into trouble at Daytona Harvick has looked consistent but not great yet. Can he turn it into payday at Bristol? Stats say he will stay coasting again considering he has been a solid top 15 driver at Bristol over the past 6 races including a few top 10s.
• Honorable mention: Jimmie Johnson (6th) and Tony Stewart (11th after being down a lap and struggling most of the day)

Falling:

• Clint Bowyer- After being Mr. Consistent at Las Vegas the past three races their, Clint struggled all day and finished a lap down in 27th. The 5 Hour Energy Team just never seemed to get it going this week and fell off a bit after his 6th place finish at Phoenix.
• Jeff Gordon- Falling out of the top 10 in the Sprint Cup standings, Gordon never seemed to be a factor in Vegas. Gordon finished the day a lap down in 25th place and will try and forget about it at Bristol.
• Danica Patrick- Is it possible for her to fall more? After a crash at Phoenix that gave her a bit of an excuse when her right front went out, Vegas just showed she needs a lot of time on these tracks. She is driving a Hendrick car and yet made zero impact in the race. She hovered around 30th place all race and finished 33rd. Her boyfriend didn't have the greatest day either, but has shown if a decent driver is put in a good ride they can still finish in the top 20.
• Dishonorable mention: Greg Biffle and Marcus Ambrose.

Pit Road (Week 3 Power Rankings)

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW-1)- Finishing 6th at Vegas after a hot start to the season and JJ gets to keep his top spot.
2. Brad Keselowski (LW 2)- Same thing here with BK. BK got past his past struggles at Vegas and finished 3rd in the Miller Lite Ford.
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW 3)- Jr grab another top 10 finish and has one of his best starts to the season in recent memory.
4. Carl Edwards (LW- 10)- Carl finished 5th after breaking his winning race drought in Phoenix. Edwards has a hot start and looks to be a contender once again. We should see another back flip by the end of the season if he keeps this up.
5. Matt Kenseth (LW- NR)- Kenseth makes the huge jump after posting 7th and then a birthday win at Vegas after bad luck got him in Daytona.
6. Denny Hamlin (LW-4)- Hamlin had a strong day but some late race miscues left Hamlin with bad track position and he finished 15th.
7. Mark Martin (LW 7)- Staying put in the rankings, Martin finished 14th at Vegas but fared better than Bowyer, Biffle and Gordon.
8. Kasey Kahne (LW- NR)- Is this the start of  a run for Kahne? Since joining Hendrick he has been relevant but also seems to get into trouble often, only time will tell.
9. Tony Stewart (LW-NR)- Finishing 8th and 11th this week Smoke is keeping his car on the track and it is paying off. Stewart was part of the just missed crew last week.
10. Greg Biffle (LW-6)- Dropping off from the 6th spot in the power rankings last week Biffle turned out a mediocre 16th this week.

Dropped out- Clint Bowyer (LW-5), Jeff Gordon (LW-8), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (LW-9).
Just Missed- Eric Almirola (Again, on the cusp), Kevin Harvick, and Paul Menard.

Disclosure from Las Vegas Preview: (Quick link to my LV Preview)

• Laying low 1/3. Ryan Newman blew his engine on a late restart after missing a shift, either way he was in line for a finish around the 20's not a surprise top 10. Ambrose also had a less than stellar day finishing 22nd and not in the top 15. Menard however did come through for me and got his top 10 finish.
• The Good. Johnson, Edwards, and Stewart did pull through (even though Smoke didn't get a top 5). Clint Bowyer did not.

Check out the full results from Las Vegas Motor Speedway Here.
Also get updated on the Sprint Cup Standings Here.

Miss the race this week? Check out yahoo! and this 9 min recap of the race, Race Rewind.