Kyle Larson gets 1st win of 2024 with victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
3 March 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
LAS VEGAS, NV — Kyle Larson drove the perfect race today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to win the Pennzoil 400 as well as both Stages making for a maximum points day. It was Larson’s first win and first top 10 finish of 2024, and his 3rd victory at LVMS. With the win (based on unofficial results) Larson will also take the NASCAR Driver points lead as the series heads to Phoenix Raceway for next Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500.
The final segment was an epic battle between two young guns out of the NorCal sprint car dirt tracks. Kyle Larson used every skill and some aero tactics to hold off a charging Tyler Reddick for second straight Las Vegas win.
In the end Larson led 181 of 267 laps with Kyle Busch leading the second-most at 18. “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.”
The win was the 3rd straight at Las Vegas for Hendrick Motorsports with both Larson and Willam Byron winning last year's two races here. For Chevrolet, todays victory makes it 3 out of 3 wins so far in 2024 NASCAR Cup Series: Byron won the Daytona 500 and fellow Chevy driver Daniel Suarez won last week’s race in Atlanta.
NASCAR Cup Series Race — Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunday, March 3, 2024
1. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.
2. (18) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267.
3. (15) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
4. (20) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.
5. (8) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 267.
6. (30) Noah Gragson, Ford, 267.
7. (7) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
8. (28) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
9. (1) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
10. (4) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.
11. (16) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
12. (11) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
13. (25) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
14. (22) Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.
15. (14) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 267.
16. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
17. (13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
18. (23) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
19. (34) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 267.
20. (26) Josh Berry #, Ford, 267.
21. (6) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 267.
22. (27) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 267.
23. (36) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.
24. (31) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267.
25. (12) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
26. (21) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
27. (35) Justin Haley, Ford, 267.
28. (33) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 267.
29. (3) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.
30. (29) Harrison Burton, Ford, 267.
31. (32) Kaz Grala #, Ford, 267.
32. (17) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 266.
33. (10) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 265.
34. (37) JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 261.
35. (5) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 254.
36. (24) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 254.
37. (9) Chris Buescher, Ford, Accident, 27.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 133.192 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 0 Mins, 25 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.441 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 35 laps.
Lead Changes: 24 among 15 drivers.
