NASCAR Las Vegas Notebook: Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and More

With less than five laps remaining in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, Tyler Reddick made a run on leader Kyle Larson, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver blocked him.

That robbed Reddick’s Toyota Camry XSE of momentum and relegated him to a second-place finish to winner Larson.

“Kyle did a really good job there of pretty much taking away every option I had to close the gap,” said Reddick, who finished 0.441-second behind Larson for his first top-five finish this season. “He seemed pretty good in the middle, and I was obviously really good on the bottom. He just never let me have it.”

With 10 laps remaining in the 267-lap race, Reddick trailed Larson by 0.464 second. Five laps later he had cut the deficit to 0.363 second. However, he could never get alongside Larson because each time he tried a different line, Larson took the line away from him.

“I kept trying to run higher and higher and he was kind of running right in the middle of the race track there, was kind of pretty efficient to block both lanes,” Reddick said. “We were pretty evenly matched, so I don’t know if there was anything that I really could’ve done to get around him. He would have had to make a big mistake or had some traffic kind of knock his wind around.”

Chastain’s Two-Tire Gamble Pays Off

After Ross Chastain’s pit road speeding penalty on lap 121, the Trackhouse Racing driver found himself in a hole and spent the first half of the race in recovery mode. He finally returned to the lead lap during the fourth caution period—laps 158-161—when he took the wave around.

However, Chastain still found himself mired deep in the field. The break the Florida driver needed occurred when Corey LaJoie spun his Chevrolet in the second turn on lap 235. Chastain’s crew gambled and changed only right-side tires to gain track position. When the 267-lap race restarted on lap 241, Chastain was on the front row with leader and eventual winner Kyle Larson.

Despite having only two fresh tires, Chastain held on for a fourth-place finish, 4.356 seconds behind Larson.

“When we finish fourth and we were legitimately an eighth-place car, it’s something we’re high-fiving,” Chastain said.

Chastain admitted the strong wind that buffeted the 1.5-mile track all weekend played a role at the start of the race with speeds dropping 5 mph in the first turn.

“There were times where if I wasn’t tucked up within five-car lengths of somebody, I’d have significantly less RPM and speed down the front,” Chastain said. “I couldn’t catch them because I was inhibited by the wind, and they had the draft.

“There were times where I was 16th place, but I’m three seconds behind 15th and there are no cars, and they get bottled up. I get with them, and I’m picking up 200 RPMs on the frontstretch just being in their draft. It was pretty wild because as much as I loved that draft on the straightaway, you’d get into the corner, and I didn’t want to be behind them.”

Gibbs’ First-Gear Loss Doesn’t Prevent Top 5

Ty Gibbs experienced a frustrating day, but still managed to pull out a fifth-place finish, his first this season.

First, Gibbs incurred a tire violation on pit road on lap 158, then was penalized for pitting before pit road was open on lap 160, and finally his Toyota Camry XSE lost first gear.

“I put my team in a hole there. No excuses,” Gibbs said.

Logano Finally Finishes a 2024 Race

In three races this season, Joey Logano has started on the front row, earning the pole for two of them. However, it wasn’t until Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that Logano finished an event.

Entering the 267-lap Pennzoil 400, Logano found himself 31st in the point standings after crashing out of the season’s first two events. However, his ninth-place finish in Sunday’s race allowed him to jump to 24th in the driver standings.

Pit Road Penalty Proves Costly for Busch

Kyle Busch led once for 18 laps and appeared to be a victory contender in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 before a pit road penalty foiled his day.

When Busch pitted on lap 210, NASCAR said his Chevrolet Camaro’s front air dam was outside his pit box. That left him 30th on the restart from the sixth and final caution period that ended on lap 241. Busch eventually finished 26th to winner Kyle Larson.

Byron Regains Lost Lap for Top 10

Williams Byron led twice for 15 laps before a trash bag became stuck on his front grill, forcing his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet’s temperature to more than 350 degrees.

Byron had to pit on lap 48 of the 267-lap race to get the trash bag removed but was never in victory contention the rest of the event even though he regained his lost lap on lap 80 when Stage 1 ended. He was the first car a lap down and received the free pass. The Daytona 500 winner eventually salvaged a 10th-place finish, his second this season.

Loose Lug Nut Ends Buescher’s Day

Failure to tighten Chris Buescher’s right-front wheel’s single lug nut cost the RFK Racing driver a good finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Buescher led the final two laps of the first caution period that ended on lap 16 due to his crew’s quick performance. However, on lap 27 the quick pit stop for two right-side tires proved detrimental when Buescher lost his Ford Mustang Dark Horse’s right-front wheel and slammed the first-turn wall. NASCAR had to stop the 267-lap race for 10 minutes 39 seconds while part of the wall was welded.

Buescher said he received no warning that he had a problem, and it appeared something in the suspension cut the wheel in half.

“That’s kind of been the case with this car,” said Buescher, the only driver who failed to finish the event. “I’ve probably had three of these now through the last couple of years and haven’t had a warning on any of them. It’s nothing like the old five lug stuff where you’d get a vibration or a shimmy or have some kind of clue. It just happens all of a sudden. That sucks.”

Stuck Lug Nut Foils Wallace’s Top-5 Run

Bubba Wallace entered the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the only driver with top-five finishes in the first two races this season.

That distinction ended in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 when a stuck lug nut on his Toyota Camry XSE had to be cut off. That relegated Wallace to a 35th-place finish, 13 laps down to winner Kyle Larson.