#NASCAR Race Weekend Recap (Las Vegas)
Winners: Kyle Larson (Cup); John Hunter Nemechek (Xfinity); Rajah Caruth (Trucks)
NASCAR Cup
Kyle Larson holds off Tyler Reddick for the #Win
Kyle Larson had to use all his consummate skills behind the wheel to hold off Tyler Reddick after a restart with 27 laps left. Larson had short-run speed, enough to build significant advantages early in a run.
But Reddick began closing the gap, so much so that with two laps left, Reddick was a scant 0.143 seconds behind Larson at the stripe, roughly one car length.
Larson, however, was adept at putting his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in a position to block the progress of Reddick’s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, and when the race ended two laps later, Larson had increased the margin to 0.441 seconds.
“I knew Tyler was going to be the guy to beat from the first stage,” said Larson, who won for the first time this season and the 24th time in his career. “He was really fast there. I was hoping those guys were going to get racing a little bit longer behind me because I felt like it was going to time out where he was running really hard and getting the tow to catch me at the end.
“Thankfully, (I) was able to air block him a couple laps and get him tight. I thought him and (23XI teammate) Bubba (Wallace) were going to get working together again to build a run, so I was happy that didn’t happen.
“But all in all, such a great job by this Hendrick Cars Chevy team and just their execution, pit road, restarts — all that was great. Cool to get a win here at Vegas again. Back-to-back, swept all the stages again. Can’t ask for much more.”
Pole: Joey Logano
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Next Race: The Cup Series will return on Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 3:30 PM ET for the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
NASCAR Xfinity
John Hunter Nemechek, JGR Dominate Xfinity Series Race
The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates (Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek) spent most of Saturday afternoon racing each other for the top spot in The LiUNA!, a 300-mile NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was Nemechek who proved superior in the long run.
After Smith won the first two stages of the race — the second with a deft last-lap pass of Nemechek’s No. 20 Toyota — Nemechek asserted his dominance.
By the time Nemechek crossed the finish line at the end of Lap 200, he held a 4.360-second lead over pole winner Cole Custer, who had charged into second place after a late cycle of green-flag pit stops.
“Hats off to all the guys on this 20 team for Joe Gibbs Racing, said Nemechek, who led a race-high 99 laps in securing his first victory of the season, his first at Las Vegas and the 10th of his career.
“Man, it’s awesome to come out here and win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with a limited number of starts. Our goal is to come and win as many as we possibly could. Nothing else matters.
Pole: Cole Custer
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Next Race: The Xfinity Series will return on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 3:30 PM ET for the Call811.Com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
NASCAR Trucks
Rajah Caruth Collects First Career #Win
Rajah Caruth celebrated a historic night by becoming the third Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race, etching his name alongside Hall of Fame trailblazer Wendell Scott and current-day Cup Series star Bubba Wallace.
The 21-year-old driver punctuated the moment with a professional-grade smoky burnout that made him look like a seasoned veteran, far removed from his earlier Late Model triumphs at Hickory and Tri-County in the North Carolina foothills and light-years away from his iRacing roots.
“I’m pretty speechless. It’s been a tough journey so far,” said Rajah Caruth, now in his second full season of Truck Series competition. His first truck win arrived in his 30th start. “A lot of people have helped me get to this point. Thank you to every single one of y’all. Definitely ups and downs, but this journey has been fruitful at times and testing at times. … This winter was a lot of uncertainty about where I’d be driving, not having a bunch of funding behind me at the time. I just stayed true to my faith and my family. Fortunately, a lot of people put a lot of stuff together for me to be in this spot.”
Pole: Rajah Caruth
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Next Race: The Truck Series will return on Saturday, March. 16, 2024 at 8:00 PM ET for the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
ARCA
No ARCA Event
Next Race: The ARCA Series and the ARCA West Series Friday, March 8, 2024 at 6:00 PM ET. for the General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway.
source: NASCAR Media
