Who… should you be talking about after the race?
Winning at the NASCAR Cup Series level is incredibly hard. Less than 10% of drivers have done it throughout NASCAR history. But Kyle Larson can make it look easy, and he certainly did on Sunday (March 3).
Larson swept the stages at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading eight times for 181 total laps to win the Pennzoil 400 by .441 laps over a charging Tyler Reddick.
Reddick had a faster car, but Larson was able to counter his every move in the final laps. Clean air was also on Larson’s side, and he was able to run anywhere he wanted on the track, allowing him to work lapped traffic and hold off Reddick to take the checkers.
It’s Larson’s 24th career Cup victory, moving him into 36th on the all-time wins list behind Jim Paschal and Hall of Famer Joe Weatherly.
And don’t forget Noah Gragson. Gragson finished sixth, his second top 10 of 2024 and the second-best finish of his Cup career. Gragson earned a reputation for being overly aggressive in his Xfinity Series years and often overdrove the car in that series and in his Cup starts. But he hasn’t shown any of that so far in 2024.
If not for a point penalty for an infraction last week at Atlanta, Gragson would be inside the top 20 in driver points. If any driver could use a little redemption, it’s Gragson, and it seems as though he’s off to a good start.
What… is the big question leaving this race in the rearview?
Suddenly, we’re three weeks deep in the 2024 season. It’s still early, but are there already some trends to watch in 2024?
Definitely. While in general it’s the usual suspects atop the points tally already, there are a few different faces among them. After missing the playoffs last year and having a rough end to his day at Daytona International Speedway, Daniel Suarez sits eighth. Ty Gibbs is ninth, just behind Suarez. Austin Cindric is 11th, Erik Jones 15th and John Hunter Nemechek 16th. Corey Lajoie is a very respectable 17th even after a crash at Vegas.
On the flip side, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski are all 2023 playoff drivers finding themselves on the wrong side of 20th place.
There is more than enough time for the trends to change and we will see comers and goers in the standings all year, especially as more drivers begin to lock into playoff contention with wins. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on these drivers in the next few…
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