Wood Brothers win their 201st Cup Victory
By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net
Las Vegas, Nevada — With Christopher Bell winning the last three NASCAR races and a heavy favorite at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he has to get around several drivers to win this race. Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Ross Chastain will be there at the finish.
First Stage
With Michael McDowell on the poll, he leads the first lap before Joey Logano wrestles the lead and opens up by four-car lengths. Logano, McDowell, Austin Cindric, and William Byron run 1-4 as Logano’s lead increases to 1.163 seconds over Cindric who has moved in front of McDowell on lap 16. Logano laps slower cars starting on lap 26 with Cindric closes his lead to -0.532. Logano and Cindric continue to dual with the third-place Bowman over -3.3 seconds behind. Green flag pit stops start on lap 31 as Logano gives up the lead to change four tires and a top off of fuel. Chase Briscoe’s tire comes off and the first caution is thrown on lap 33. Kyle Busch takes over the lead. Chase Eliott and Tyler Reddick are now 2-3.
Cycling through pit stops during the caution, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman and Joey Logano lead the field. Pit penalties to Denny Hamlin for speeding on pit road and Ryan Blaney loses two laps with a problem in the pits.
The green flag is thrown on lap 40 with Cindric, Bowman, and Logano in front. Bowman, Bubba Wallace, and Elliott go around Logano. Cindric continues to lead Bowman and Elliott with Wallace 4th. Machines 1-4 continue this order through the end of the stage with Larson in 5th. Cindric wins the First Stage and the ten bonus points.
Second Stage
Between the stages, many cars pitted and Elliott was flagged for speeding sending him to the back of the field. Wallace, Cindric, and Larson are your top three restarting on lap 88. Bowman gets loose and pits on lap 90 with a potential vibration issue. By lap 96, Larson moves to second with Logano 3rd and Bell 4th. Larson goes around Wallace in turn one of lap 99. Shane vanGisbergen cuts a tire on lap 106 and brings out a caution flag. Ryan Blaney is the free pass car and gains returns to the lead lap. The pits are opened on lap 108 and most drivers pit. Chase Briscoe is four laps down. Bell is given a penalty for pitting outside his box.
The flag is dropped on lap 113 and Kyle Busch, who restarted 12th, loses a wheel and brings about the day’s 3rd racing caution. The leaders reshuffle and the Top 5 are Byron, Larson, Wallace, Reddick and Carson Hocevar. Byron is the only driver to lead at least one lap in the first five races this season. Larson goes to the lead with Byron second and Reddick third and they break out as a three-car pack. Logano is slowly sliding back to outside the Top 10.
The 5th competition of the day brings most of the field to the pits with a two-tire change and fuel.
This reshuffles the leaders at the green flag restart. Reddick leads, Wallace, Suarez, Hocevar and Logano are 2-5. With the flag dropped on lap 151, drivers reshuffle the lead as Ross Chastain leads Erik Jones, Larson, Byron, and Wallace for the top 5. Jones gets caught up in traffic and slides to tenth with Hocevar now 5th. Larson goes in front of Byron for the third time on lap 162. Larson cruises to a Stage Two victory.
Final Stage
The Final Stage green flag is dropped on lap 173 with pole sitter McDowell on the lead but Larson passes him. McDowell, Suarez, Chastain, and Byron are 1-5. 32 of 36 cars are on the lead lap and Larson builds a 1.5-second lead on Byron with 83 laps to go. Despite starting at the rear of the field in a backup machine and pit problems, Ryan Blaney is 5th. Cody Ware hits the wall on lap 187 with 80 to go and a caution flag is dropped. The pits are opened on lap 188 and most of the drivers pit. Ty Gibbs overshoots his pit box and is pitting backward and loses plenty of time under caution.
The flag is dropped on lap 194 and on the backstretch and cars get stacked up as Cindric, Blaney, Wallace, and Jones all tear up their machines with 72 laps to go. The pits open with 68 to go and only a few drivers go in. This includes Wallace and Jones. When the green flag drops, it’s Suarez, Reddick and McDowell. Drivers race single file as Reddick continues to lead the race. Hamlin is now in the Top 5 with 55 to go. With fuel mileage strategies out the window with the final stage cautions, drivers log miles. Hamlin climbs to third place and Logano 4th.
Suarez goes around Reddick on lap 230 and Logano is closing fast. Reddick pits on lap 233 with a four tire change and adjustments. Josh Berry is now the leader for the next few laps until lap 236, when Logano passes Berry. Busch clips the wall with 26 to go and slides down the wall and triggers a caution. The pits open with 22 to go and most leaders come in. Suarez leaves pit road first with Berry second and Ryan Preece third. Logano had a poor pit stop and slid to 20th place.
The green flag is dropped with 19 to go and drivers go two and three wide. Berry uses a side draft to take the lead and Suarez fights back. Berry slowly builds a lead to .902 over Suarez. The leaders with five laps to go are Berry, Suarez, Preece, Chastain, and Byron. Berry keeps his lead and the Wood Brothers #21 wins the Penzoil 400.
Checkered Flag- Josh Berry
In Josh Berry’s 53 Cup start, he breaks through for his first career CUP victory. He earned eight points in both the first and second stages and 46 for the race. Berry led twice for 18 laps earning the longest running NASCAR team in history, the Wood Brothers the victory. Berry is the 20th driver on its roster to win. Berry Explains.
This is your 53rd career start. Josh, you are now a Cup Series winner. How does that sound?
JOSH BERRY: Oh, man, I don’t even know what to think. Just awesome. I love this track. Las Vegas has been so good to me. So many great moments here. Just struggled in the Next Gen car here. But Miles and this whole 21 team, everybody at Wood Brothers Racing, they gave me a great car today. Just battled and battled and battled. Man, it was our day. I just can’t believe it. Such a battle with Daniel there at the end, beating and banging on a mile-and-a-half, crazy. Whoever was going to get out front was probably going to win. We were able to get in front. “
In The Mix 1- Daniel Suarez 2nd No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Daniel Suarez has not won since his miracle three-way finish last year in Atlanta. He won that race by .003 of a second. Suarez has a seat in CUP but the seat is often warm. Connor Zilisch is coming and rumor is, the Suarez seat might belong to the hot shot Xfinity driver. On Sunday, Suarez led four times for 14 laps on Sunday. Suarez knew his ride was only second best at Las Vegas. “Definitely a little disappointed, but first of all, congratulations to Josh Berry and the No. 21 team. They did a great job and they’ve been fast. The No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevy team did everything right. The pit crew did an amazing job with the pit stops. We did everything right with the strategy. Our Chevy was fast, but we just struggled a little bit on the short runs. I mentioned to my crew chief – before the last run, I told him that if we’re going to be up front, we’re going to need a better car for the short run.”
In the Mix 2
They Said It… Christopher Bell’s Streak ends at 3
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 12th- Can you tell me what your feelings are right now?
“I mean, just – I don’t know. It’s fine. I was a grind today for sure. I don’t really know how I feel yet, but we certainly didn’t do what we did the last couple of weeks and that was just have a nice clean race. I think the Interstate Camry was definitely capable of competing for the win when we were at our best but just going to the back and to the front and to the back and to the front, we just didn’t get a handle on the balance, because it changes so much from being back there. I felt like we were in position in stage two to contend for another win, but it got away from us.”
Factiods that may interest only me
Christopher Bell is the first driver to win three straight races in the Next Gen car and the first since Kyle Larson three consecutive races in 2021. The last to win four straight races was Jimmie Johnson in 2007.
In NASCAR’s modern era (from 1972 to present), only eight drivers — Cale Yarborough (1976), Darrell Waltrip (1981), Dale Earnhardt Sr. (1987), Harry Gant (1991), Bill Elliott (1992), Mark Martin (1993), Jeff Gordon (1998), and Jimmie Johnson (2007) — have won four straight races.
NASCAR Points after LVMS << All driver’s points after LVMS
Roy J. Akers covers NASCAR for www.skyviewsports.net
