Cup: Mid-Race Report; Larson Paces the Field in Vegas

What’s Happening?

Two stages are down in the Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Early on, it looked as though the Toyotas had a pretty firm stranglehold on the competition, with them claiming the first three positions for much of the opening stage. Christopher Bell went on to win Stage 1 handily as his teammates faded in the closing laps. In Stage 2, the Hendrick trio of Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and William Byron pounced on the Toyotas like a pack of rabid wolves, wrestling the lead away. Through a series a green flag pit stops, Kyle Larson remained the guy to beat as he went on to win Stage 2.

Now, with two stages in the books, this is how everything stands heading into the final stage in Sin City.

Mid-Race Fast Notes:

• Toyotas shone in qualifying yesterday and they set the pace early. Denny Hamlin went on to lead 59 laps of the opening stage. He even sat the Xfinity Fastest Lap early on in the run. As the laps ticked by, though, the No. 11 faded as he lost the lead to his teammate, Christopher Bell. Bell went on to win the stage but Kyle Larson was running him down from second at the time of the green and white checkered flag.
• Earning points in Stage 1 were: Christopher Bell (10), Larson (9), Gibbs (8), Hamlin (7), Wallace (6), Byron (5), Preece (4), Elliott (3), Blaney (2), and Reddick (1).
• The Hendrick Motorsports trio of Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and William Byron pounced on the JGR trio and took the lead away. This saw Larson rocket out front and start to pull away from the rest of the pack amid the clean air. That advantage for Larson went away, however, as he started to get tangled up in lap traffic. This allowed second-place William Byron to catch back up to him. As Kyle Busch kissed the wall, killing the No. 5’s momentum, Byron slipped by for the win. He went on to win the stage, leading the final 8 laps of the stage.
• Earning stage points in Stage 2 were: William Byron (10), Larson (9), Bell (8), Wallace (7), Hamlin (6), Reddick (5), Buescher (4), Preece (3), Elliott (2), and Cindric (1).
• The first two stages ran relatively clean with the only cautions being for the two stage breaks. Kyle Busch and defending winner Josh Berry got off to a dismal start, going two laps down before the end of the second stage. Also lingering around in the back of the pack was SVG who made the save of the century earlier in the race.

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