At the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Brad Keselowski took the lead from Kyle Busch with just five laps to go and drove his #2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion to victory lane. The win ended a 33-race drought and gave Penske Racing their first triumph of the season. His teammate Joey Logano, who led the most laps on the day, finished second just .675 seconds behind Keselowski.
The start of the race was delayed by rain, and gusty winds and a mid-race dust storm made visibility on the track a challenge in itself. The unpredictable conditions left the field trying to figure out their race set-ups throughout the event. The Penske racers seemed to adapt efficiently and, if not for a pit road speeding penalty under caution on Lap 180, Keselowski may have led a lot more laps.
Brad Keselowski’s last win came at NASCAR’s Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, March 22, 2015, but he finished in the top ten over 80% of the time on 1.5 mile ovals last year. Most racing enthusiasts were surprised it took big bad Brad this long to get back to his winning ways. The Miller Lite Ford Fusion led only 24 of 267 laps on the day but led the most important five laps at the end.
“This is really, really great,” said Keselowski, who lauded the lower-downforce aerodynamic package in place for the 2016 season. “It seemed like there were plenty of challenges, whether it was pit road or the weather or cautions. They threw everything they had at us today but this Miller Lite Ford team was too strong, and we were able to fight them off and get to Victory Lane.”
Joey Logano finished a stout second. Logano’s #22 Shell Pennzoil led 74 laps and was a fixture at the front for most of the race. The deciding factor between the two machines was that Keselowski’s car was better on the longer runs and Logano had the quicker in the beginning of the runs. The race ended on a 40-lap run so the advantage clearly went to his teammate.
Six-time NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson had a productive day for Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson led a race high 76 laps and his car performed very well out in front of the pack in clean air. The #48 Kobalt Chevrolet squeaked past the #18 M&M of Kyle Busch on the last lap for a solid third place finish.
Kurt Busch, the race pole position winner, started out in the front and led the first 31 laps of the contest. Things started to go south for the Stweart Haas racer when he was penalized for exiting pit road over the 45 mile-per-hour limit. His Monster Energy Chevrolet was placed at the rear of the field and he spent a good portion of the race battling just to get back in the top 10. Busch eventually did work his way there and finished with a respectable 9th place finish.
Austin Dillon had a strong showing in the #3 Dow Energy Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress. He was in the top 10 all day and finished the race in fifth place. Ryan Blaney took home the Sunoco Rookie of the Race Award with his sixth place finish and Kevin Harvick followed in seventh. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Kasey Kahne, who showed a lot of improvement from his 23rd place finish at NASCAR’s Atlanta Motor Speedway, rounded out the top ten.
Kyle Busch maintained his NASCAR point standing lead over Jimmie Johnson by a whopping six points and seventh place Kevin Harvick by seven. Joey Logano is in fourth just 12 points back of Busch.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Kobalt 400 Results:
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Joey Logano
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kyle Busch
5. Austin Dillon
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
9. Kurt Busch
10. Kasey Kahne
11. Martin Truex Jr.
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13. Ryan Newman
14. AJ Allmendinger
15. Paul Menard
16. Jamie McMurray
17. Trevor Bayne
18. Carl Edwards
19. Denny Hamlin
20. Greg Biffle
21. Danica Patrick
22. Clint Bowyer
23. Casey Mears
24. Aric Almirola
25. Regan Smith
26. Chris Buescher
27. Brian Scott
28. Landon Cassill
29. Michael McDowell
30. Michael Annett
31. Matt DiBenedetto
32. David Ragan
33. Jeffrey Earnhardt
34. Kyle Larson
35. Josh Wise
36. Brian Vickers
37. Matt Kenseth
38. Chase Elliott
39. Cole Whitt
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Point Standings:
| Rank | Driver | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | DNF | Laps | Laps Led |
| 1 | Kyle Busch | 116 | – | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 797 | 59 |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 110 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 797 | 146 |
| 3 | Kevin Harvick | 109 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 797 | 132 |
| 4 | Joey Logano | 104 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 797 | 74 |
| 5 | Kurt Busch | 102 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 797 | 93 |
| 6 | Brad Keselowski | 98 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 797 | 25 |
| 7 | Carl Edwards | 96 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 797 | 1 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | 93 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 795 | 105 |
| 9 | Martin Truex Jr. | 90 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 797 | 36 |
| 10 | Austin Dillon | 90 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 797 | 3 |
| 11 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 79 | 37 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 797 | 0 |
| 12 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 78 | 38 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 766 | 15 |
| 13 | Kasey Kahne | 77 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 795 | 0 |
| 14 | Ryan Blaney | 73 | 43 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 795 | 0 |
| 15 | Aric Almirola | 72 | 44 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 794 | 0 |
| 16 | Jamie McMurray | 69 | 47 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 795 | 0 |
| Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Playoff | ||||||||||
| 17 | Ryan Newman | 66 | 50 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 795 | 1 |
| 18 | Paul Menard | 62 | 54 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 795 | 0 |
| 19 | Regan Smith | 57 | 59 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 789 | 1 |
| 20 | Kyle Larson | 56 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 789 | 0 |
| 21 | Greg Biffle | 56 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 794 | 0 |
| 22 | Matt Kenseth | 56 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 752 | 97 |
| 23 | Trevor Bayne | 56 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 795 | 0 |
| 24 | Casey Mears | 54 | 62 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 795 | 0 |
| 25 | AJ Allmendinger | 51 | 65 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 793 | 0 |
| 26 | Danica Patrick | 47 | 69 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 779 | 0 |
| 27 | Brian Scott | 42 | 74 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 790 | 1 |
| 28 | Chase Elliott | 41 | 75 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 714 | 3 |
| 29 | Michael Annett | 37 | 79 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 790 | 1 |
| 30 | Michael McDowell | 36 | 80 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 789 | 0 |
| 31 | Landon Cassill | 36 | 80 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 787 | 0 |
| 32 | Clint Bowyer | 33 | 83 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 788 | 0 |
| 33 | David Ragan | 31 | 85 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 785 | 1 |
| 34 | Chris Buescher | 30 | 86 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 683 | 0 |
| 35 | Matt DiBenedetto | 23 | 93 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 680 | 0 |
| 36 | Brian Vickers | 20 | 96 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 457 | 0 |
| 37 | Michael Waltrip | 12 | 104 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 1 |
| 38 | Bobby Labonte | 11 | 105 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 1 |
| 39 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 11 | 105 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 575 | 0 |
| 40 | Josh Wise | 8 | 108 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 571 | 0 |
| 41 | Cole Whitt | 7 | 109 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 433 | 1 |
| 42 | Robert Richardson Jr. | 3 | 113 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 135 | 0 |
