NASCAR takeaways: Kyle Larson dominates in the desert for first win of 2024

NASCAR Cup Series

Published Mar. 3, 2024 9:13 p.m. ET

In mid-October, Kyle Larson led 133 laps in winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Fast-forward to Sunday, and he led 181 of the 267 laps in capturing his first victory of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

“I felt like we were going to be good again,” Larson said. “Did I think we would win both stages in the race? I don’t know, but I felt like we would have a shot.

“It was good. My car felt better than it did in the fall. … I thought my car drove better from the beginning of the run to the end of the run where in the fall I would get really, really loose.”

Larson did have to hold off Tyler Reddick, who cut Larson’s lead to about 0.2 seconds in the final laps before fading over the final couple of laps to finish 0.441 seconds behind the Hendrick Motorsports driver.

For Larson, to get the regular-season win at Vegas meant something.

“Last year, we made it to the final four [to compete for the title], but I didn’t do a great job in the regular season,” Larson said. “I crashed a lot. We didn’t finish as high up as the speed in our car in the regular season.”

Takeaways after a race where Larson and Reddick were followed across the finish line by Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs.

Kyle Larson speaks on winning the Pennzoil 400

Reddick, Chastain Come Up Short

Reddick said there wasn’t much he could do to catch Larson, who as the leader could run Reddick’s preferred line.

“Kyle did a really good job there of pretty much taking away every option I had to close the gap,” Reddick said. “He seemed pretty good in the middle [lane], and I was obviously really good on the bottom. He just never let me have it.”

Chastain restarted second with 27 laps remaining when he took two tires under caution while the competition took four.

“I knew if we couldn’t get to the lead and we had to then play defense,” Chastain said. “I really ran as fast as I could there at the end.”

Chastain did add a quip about Blaney blocking him at the end — at the championship race last year, Blaney knocked Chastain out of the way after Blaney felt Chastain was blocking him.

“It was pretty cool to see his evolution with the air blocking,” Chastain said. “I was proud of him.”

‘I was proud of him’ — Ross Chastain on the evolution of Ryan Blaney’s air blocking at the end of the Pennzoil 400

Bad Luck Byron And Buescher

William Byron led 15 laps early in the event but had to pit under green in the first stage when a big trash bag flew onto the grille of his car (which occasionally happens on windy days). If he had stayed on track, the engine would have overheated.

“It was huge,” said Byron, who finished 10th. “It seemed to get stuck somewhere underneath [the car]. My temps went from 250 to 350 in like 10 seconds. I’ve never had that happen.”

Chris Buescher was the driver with worse luck. His team didn’t get a wheel tight, and Buescher hit the wall just 28 laps into the race, ending his day.

NASCAR had to stop the race to actually weld part of the SAFER Barrier (a steel barrier that is anchored to the concrete wall) after Buescher’s wreck.

“I broke the wall?” Buescher said when told they had to stop the race. “Not what I wanted to do today. It was not on my list.”

Buescher likely will have two crew members suspended for two races because the wheel came off on the track under green.

Chris Buescher on his tire falling off at Las Vegas

Gragson Big Sixth

Noah Gragson earned his third career top-10 with a sixth-place finish at his home track.

It was a big confidence boost for Gragson, who was suspended for the final three months of the 2023 season and lost his ride when he liked a racially insensitive tweet.

“This is good for our confidence but we’re not going to get content,” Gragson said after his third race for Stewart-Haas Racing.

Gragson entered the race last in the standings with minus-6 points after a 35-point penalty for roof air deflectors that didn’t meet specifications that NASCAR found on his car a week earlier at Atlanta.

“I saw everybody tweeting me that they had more points than me in Cup,” Gragson said. “That was a good little laugh. We just stayed focused. It is what it is.

“I learned over the past handful of months to try to work to be better tomorrow. It is what it is. The past is the past. It’s about looking forward to the future and growing as a person.”

NASCAR Cup Series: Pennzoil 400 highlights

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.