Quick takeaways from Las Vegas
Throughout 2016 we may have way too many quick thoughts for our post-race posts. So consider our new Takeaways feature to be the home of our random and sometimes intelligent musings. Sometimes the post may have a theme. Sometimes it may just be a mess of unrelated thoughts. Make sure you tweet us your thoughts after the race or email your post-race rants via the link in the signature line below.
• Does Las Vegas have too much speed and too much grip to produce compelling racing throught the entirety of a race?
Kurt Busch set a track qualifying record on Friday with a speed over 196 MPH. While tire wear was an issue throughout Sunday’s race, it wasn’t nearly as severe as it was last week at Atlanta, where two-tire stops weren’t even an option.
The result of those high speeds and harder tires was a race that wasn’t boring, but wasn’t spellbinding. Granted, we know that asking for a great race every week is foolish and naive, but we’re also wondering if Las Vegas is simply a track that’s not conducive for more than flashes of drama throughout a 400-mile race.
Maybe the pavement has to age more. Maybe the cars need to slow down and/or the tires need to be softer. Maybe neither of those are the answer. With progressive banking, Vegas looks like it has a setup for lots of passing.
• Case in point on tire wear, race-winner Brad Keselowski was able to run down Kyle Busch despite staying out over the last two caution flags. And Busch had taken just left-side tires on his final pit stop. Tire strategy is a valuable part of racing. But track position still continues to dominate in the desert.
• Can you imagine driving a stock car over 190 MPH in a sandstorm? The amount of debris that was on the track at times thanks to the vicious winds made the plastic on the track during the Sprint Unlimited look miniscule.
• This is stating the obvious, but it’s not a good year for Matt Kenseth. He made a nice save after nearly spinning late in the race, but Chase Elliott simply ran into him. Elliott took full blame for the accident. We’re not sure if it really was avoidable. If Elliott could have avoided hitting Kenseth, he might have just simply hit something else.
“Matt spun out and I just did a bad job missing him,” Elliott said. “Just locked up the brakes and ran right into the back of him.”
• Furniture Row Racing is reportedly dropping its appeal of Cole Pearn’s one-race suspension and he’ll serve it at Phoenix. Pearn will be able to return at California.
• Austin Dillon stayed out with the Team Penske guys on a caution with 51 laps to go and ended up in fifth. It was a nice bounceback after he got caught speeding on pit road under green.
It was possible to view the pit road speeding penalty as a dose of karma for Dillon. Earlier in the race he had some choice words for his crew after he was pit back in traffic when his team changed four tires instead of two. Dillon, who had a very fast car throughout the race, made a reference that his crew was potentially costing him a win.
Sorry, but we’re not so sure about that. The last time a Richard Childress Racing car won was in 2013. Kevin Harvick, now at Stewart-Haas Racing, was the driver. While RCR has shown some promising speed early this season, there is more than one reason for a two-plus season winless drought for a three-car team.
• We have a dream that one day, a Las Vegas race broadcast will be free of gambling cliches. And why in the world was Darrell Waltrip saying “your buddy” to describe Elliott while talking to Jeff Gordon?
• If Matt Kenseth (22nd in the standings) has had a bad start to the season, so has Kyle Larson (21st). The driver of the No. 42 was involved in two incidents at Las Vegas and it’s fair to wonder if Larson is overdriving the car.
Larson was dubbed the next great NASCAR star in 2014 and he’s going to be a multi-time winner in NASCAR. We have very little doubt about that. We just wonder if there’s been any effect from the relative lack of performance versus the expectations set of Larson.
Through 78 races, Larson has 10 top fives and 28 top 10s. Tose aren’t bad statistics. But eight of those top fives and 17 of those top 10s came in his first year. Larson can (and we think will) make the Chase in 2016. And there’s plenty of time to do it without having to win a race.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
