By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Christopher Bell goes for historic NASCAR Cup win at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Understandably, much of the focus during NASCAR’s tripleheader weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will fall squarely on Christopher Bell.
The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four straight NASCAR Cup Series races, if he’s first to the finish line in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Bell feels his team, headed by crew chief Adam Stevens, can win at any race track. True enough, the 30-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma, has claimed victory in the last three Cup Series races—on a drafting track (Atlanta Motor Speedway), a road course (Circuit of the Americas) and a one-mile flat track (Phoenix Raceway).
With those triumphs, Bell became the first driver to win three consecutive Cup Series races since NASCAR introduced the Next Gen car into its top division in 2022.
Bell is one of only four drivers to win three of the first races in a Cup Series season. The only driver to win four of the first five was Bill Elliott in 1992. Bell also is responsible for Joe Gibbs Racing’s last five victories.
The Pennzoil 400 is the first race of the season on a 1.5-mile intermediate speedway. In last year’s Playoff race in Sin City, Bell led a race-high 155 laps before finishing second to Joey Logano by 0.662-second.
“Vegas is a true barometer of the intermediates,” Bell said. “It’s kind of like the last style of track that we haven’t been to yet this season. It’s an important race because you have a lot of points to be gained or lost on the intermediate-style tracks.
“But what makes Vegas even more important is that it’s in the Round of 8 (of the Playoffs). That race, when you come back in the fall, is super important to have a really solid points day and contend for a win. That fall Vegas race is everything, and there’s no better tune-up for it than the spring Vegas race.”
Indeed, Logano won last year’s Playoff race at Las Vegas and used that as a springboard to his third series championship. It’s also safe to say that Logano could be a major impediment to Bell’s quest for a fourth straight win.
Logano has won three of the last 10 races at LVMS. Another serious contender, Kyle Larson, has won three of the last eight. Only one Toyota driver has been to Victory Lane in the last 10 events at the track—Bell’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in the fall race of 2021.
Larson won the two Las Vegas races before Logano triumphed last fall.
“Las Vegas has been a great track for us since I joined the No. 5 HendrickCars.com team,” Larson said. “We got our first win here together, and we have added a couple more since then.”
If Bell has been living at the front of the field, there are three drivers in particular who could use strong performances at Las Vegas to turn their seasons around.
After four races, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs and Cole Custer are 33rd, 34th and 35th in the Cup Series standings, respectively. By way of contrast, Johnson who finished third in his only start of the season (the Daytona 500), is 36th, just 13 points behind Keselowski.
Las Vegas should suit the co-owner/driver of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing. Keselowski has three victories at LVMS, along with nine top fives, and 13 top 10s in 23 starts, with an average finish of 12.7.
Gibbs also has reason for hope, having finished fifth in last year’s spring race at Las Vegas. Gibbs is facing a busy weekend. He’ll make his High Limit Racing debut in a 410 winged sprint car at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as will Bell.
The High Limit series, owned by Larson and brother-in-law Brad Sweet, races at the Dirt Track on Thursday and Saturday.
Having returned to the Cup Series after a two-year hiatus in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Custer has never scored a top 10 in seven Las Vegas starts. His best finish at the track is 16th.
Austin Hill hopes to rebound from misfortune at Phoenix Raceway
A race-ending mistake last Saturday at Phoenix Raceway cost Austin Hill the NASCAR Xfinity Series lead.
Just 61 laps into the fourth event of the season, Hill bounced off the inside wall in Turn 3 and collected the cars of Sheldon Creed and Dean Thompson. Hill finished 37th and fell to fourth in the standings as Richard Childress Racing teammate Jesse Love took over the points lead with a ninth-place finish.
“I was right behind the No. 8 (Sammy Smith) and just messed up,” Hill said ruefully. “I misjudged the inside wall, and that may be the dumbest move I’ve had happen to me in racing…
“We’ll rebuild for Las Vegas and try to have a good outcome there.”
Hill will look to regain the form that earned a victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the series lead in Saturday’s The Liuna! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (4:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hill is the only former Las Vegas winner in the field for Saturday’s race, but he’ll have plenty of competition from perennial contender Justin Allgaier. The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has more second-place finishes (4), top fives (11), stage wins (3) and laps led (330) than the rest of the field combined, despite being winless at the track.
Last week’s winner, Aric Almirola, will make his third start of the season in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, seeking his first top-10 finish at LVMS in his seventh start there.
Grant Enfinger, Ty Majeski come to Vegas in tight Truck Series points battle
Former Las Vegas winner Grant Enfinger holds a one-point lead over reigning champion Ty Majeski in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series standings entering Friday night’s Ecosave 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Driving a Ford for owner Mike Curb, Enfinger took the checkered flag in 2018, before Toyota ran off a string of seven straight victories at the 1.5-mile intermediate track. Kyle Busch and Rajah Caruth have won the two most recent races at LVMS in Chevrolets, both from the pole.
If Caruth can win on Friday in the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Silverado, he’ll be the first driver to go back-to-back at the track. Caruth currently is 30th in the series standings after crashing out at Daytona and Atlanta to start the season, and he’s happy to get back on the track after a two-week hiatus in the schedule.
“It’s great to go back to Las Vegas,” Caruth said. “It will be my first time on the grounds since the win. That night was obviously such a milestone for myself, and from a confidence standpoint, I know I can get the job done at that facility.
“Coming off a couple bad weeks, it sticks in your mind when you have multiple weekends between races. My motivation for the weekend is definitely at a heightened level since I know I run well at Vegas. But in terms of preparation, it’s just another race.”
ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton will make his 200th start in the series on a 1.5-mile intermediate track. Only one other active Truck Series driver—ThorSport teammate Ben Rhodes—has made 200 or more starts in the series at all tracks combined.
Rhodes will make his 213th start in the series on Friday.
