6 favorites to win Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
As the low-downforce package makes its debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, here are six drivers who are serious threats for the win on Sunday.
When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series field rolls off Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to start the Kobalt 400, there will be some familiar names battling to win.
Las Vegas is a fast, 1.5-mile track, but with relatively young pavement and progressive banking in the corners, it’s completely different than Atlanta Motor Speedway, where the Cup teams raced last week.
NASCAR’s new low-downforce setup means we could see some surprises on Sunday. Then again, The usual suspects bear watching closely this weekend.
Here are the six favorites for Sunday’s struggle in Sin City:
6. BRAD KESELOWSKI — The 2014 winner here, Keselowski hasn’t finished worse than seventh in any of the last three Las Vegas races. He’s also won here in a NASCAR XFINITY Series car, so it’s obviously a track he feels comfortable at.
5. JIMMIE JOHNSON — Where isn’t Johnson a threat to win? No one has more victories at Las Vegas than Johnson, a four-time winner here. With last week’s win at Atlanta locking him into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus can afford to gamble this weekend on strategy. Expect them to be dangerous again.
4. KYLE BUSCH — All of the four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are fast right now, and Carl Edwards has better career numbers than Busch at Las Vegas so far. That said, Busch gets the nod here because he’s finished ahead of Edwards in each of the first two races of the year, he’s the defending series champion and Las Vegas is his home track.
3. KEVIN HARVICK — Last year’s winner here, Harvick has shown remarkable speed and consistency ever since joining Stewart-Haas Racing prior to the start of the 2014 season. Harvick won the ’14 title and finished second last year. And he’s opened this campaign with a top-five finish in the Daytona 500 and a sixth-place run at Atlanta.