Date: 3-5-2023.

Name of the race: Pennzoil 400.

Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Laps: 267.

Pole winner: Joey Logano.

Outside pole: William Byron.

Stage 1 winner: William Byron.

Stage 2 winner: William Byron.

Stage 3 winner (won the race): William Byron.

Top 5: William Byron, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, and Christopher Bell.

FYI: Who would lady luck favor today? That sure was the question going into race three of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. After the exciting race last week to kick off NASCAR’s yearly
“West coast swing” that saw Kyle Busch win a race for the 19th consecutive season, the younger Busch brother sure was on the top of everyone’s watch list, especially considering that he was not entered not only in Friday’s truck series race (which he won), but also Saturday’s Xfinity series race, coming out of retirement and looking to nab yet another win to add on top of his already staggering 102 series wins (finishing 4th). Kyle Larson also seemed to have the odds stacked towards him going into the race weekend, as he had also become a fan favorite at Vegas after his triumphant “first of many” wins for Hendrick Motorsports two years back. Ryan Blaney, still winless after his bummer of a 2022 season, would go into the race weekend hungry as ever and would try to capitalize come Sunday. Friday night it was announced that Chase Elliott would miss this weekend’s race in Sin City, as he had suffered a leg injury from a snowboarding accident in Colorado and fractured his tibia, undergoing a three hour long surgery, with no timeline as to when he would be back behind the wheel, or if he would be granted a playoff medical waiver to be able to contend for the 2023 title. JR Motorsports star driver of the number 8 Camaro SS, Josh Berry, who has accumulated 100 wins for the organization across late models and the Xfinity Series, would fill in for the weekend in the 9 car. Joey Logano would claim pole position for Sunday, with William Byron in his number 24 Raptor Chevrolet starting second. Blaney would roll off 3rd with Ty Gibbs starting 4th (his first starting spot within the top 5) and KFB (Kyle Busch) rounding off the top 5. The green flag would fly and within only five laps, the top six drivers (Joey Logano, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, and Kyle Busch) would pull away from the rest of the pack by about a second lead. Tyler Reddick in his 23XI Toyota Camry, had started in the rear of the field due to an engine change, but by lap eleven had already made it up to 19th becoming the quickest mover in the field. After two poor runs at Daytona and Fontana, Reddick was off to a rocky start to his new venture at 23XI racing. He would finish 15th today, but would only still be scored 34th in points when all was said and done, behind his one time teammate Travis Pastrana who had only ran the Daytona 500 as a one-off event. The #45 team will have a lot of work to do to make up the lost points, but has nothing but time to do so. By lap 74, all of the Ford drivers in the field had sunk like rocks, with Brad Keselowski being the only Ford in the top 13 of the field, running in 10th. Yikes! Ford as a whole had been struggling to notch off wins as of last year’s introduction of the gen 7 car, and while they did manage to claim some checkered flags last season, as well as the drivers Championship, rival Chevrolet had absolutely obliterated them in terms of race wins, and it looked like that trend would continue for the rest of the race. The remainder of the stage would remain relatively tame and by lap 80, Byron had won stage 1. On the restart, Bryon would retain his lead after teammate Kyle Larson had spun his tires, and he would keep Larson at bay for the majority of the race. The North Carolina native would hold off Larson and his other teammate Alex Bowman all throughout stage two, while Josh Berry struggled and went two laps down by the end of the race. Byron went on to win stage two as the field got ready for the last stage of the race. On lap 182, Joey Logano and his former teammate Brad Keselowski, would make contact coming down the front stretch, sending Logano flying through the infield grass. Two guys going for the same spot, nothing more than a racing deal folks. The leaders would go to pit, but it seemed as if the 24 team had fumbled up the stop, as Byron had re-emerged behind Kyle Larson, giving up the lead for the first time since the 1st stage. Denny Hamlin had taken two tires however, and managed to beat both the 24 and 5 cars out. It wouldn’t take long for Hamlin to get swallowed up by the bowties however, as Larson, Byron, and Bowman had all managed to get around the #11 Toyota with the laps winding down. It looked as if Larson was about to claim win number 1 of the season, when all of a sudden with four to go, Aric Almirola had brushed the wall and brought out the caution flag one last time. Martin Truex Jr decided to stay out and try to capitalize on the rest of the leaders pitting. The 24 team would manage to regroup and rally, and pit Byron fast enough to get him out front of Larson, Bowman and Hamlin. With two to go the 24 would rocket forward and pass Truex Jr’s Bass Pro Shops #19 Camry, and take the white flag in the lead. Behind the leaders on the backstretch on the final lap, four cars would wreck as the race stayed green until the end, with William Bryon picking up win number 1 of 2023, and the fifth of his career! Kyle Larson would finish 2nd, and would simply say after the race “It’s just part of Cup racing. It seems like kind of laps down, lap by lap, and then, sure enough, the yellow lights come on…” This win would lock William Byron into the Cup Series Playoffs, along with Chevy Teammates Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr, and put him thirteenth in the standings. Now, off to the final race of the west coast swing at Phoenix Raceway! 

Fun fact about the driver who won: In the year 2015, William Byron was promoted to Eagle Scout which is the highest achievement you can earn in the Boy Scouts of America. 

Fun fact about Las Vegas Motor Speedway: The very first series to race at the track when it opened in 1996 was the Indy Car Series on September 15, and the winner of the race Richie Hearn. 

Fun fact about Nevada: The name of the state is an old Spanish word that means "snow covered" which refers to the Sierra Nevada Mountains that are covered in snow. 

Next race: Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon (3-12-2023).