![Logano -2-RSR 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Logano_-2-RSR_3.9.14.JPG)
The 2014 Kobalt 400 was a
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...
stock car
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
held on March 9, 2014, at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...
in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
. Contested over 267 laps on the asphalt tri-oval, it was the third race of the
2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
The 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 66th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 43rd modern-era Cup season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway, with the Sprint Unlimited, followed by the Day ...
.
Brad Keselowski
Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...
won the race, his first win of the season, after
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...
ran out of fuel half a lap from the finish. Earnhardt Jr. still finished second, while
Paul Menard
John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing.
M ...
,
Joey Logano
Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Ser ...
, and
Carl Edwards
Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...
rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were
Austin Dillon
Austin Reed Dillon (born April 27, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver and reality TV show actor. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racin ...
(16th),
Kyle Larson
Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champi ...
(19th), and
Michael Annett
Michael W. Annett (born June 23, 1986) is an American retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports.
Racing career
Early career
Save for a f ...
(29th).
Previous week's race
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...
held off
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...
in the final nine laps to score victory in
The Profit on CNBC 500 at
Phoenix International Raceway.
Harvick praised his
Stewart-Haas Racing
Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champio ...
team for the efforts in the early part of the season, since his move from
Richard Childress Racing, stating "to add an extra team, bring in a bunch of new guys, new driver, Rodney Childers has just done a phenomenal job of putting this team together. These guys all want to win that is why they came here".
He added that he was "really happy" with the engine that had been provided by
Hendrick Motorsports.
Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed to miss out on the victory, stating that he "would have loved to have won the race, am a little disappointed to have come that close", but like Harvick, praised his team for their performances, adding that they have "a lot of great chemistry and good communication going back and forth. Everybody's confidence is very high. Everybody's mood and morale is really high".
Report
Background
![Lasvegasspeedway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Lasvegasspeedway.png)
The track,
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...
is a four-turn,
D-shaped oval track that has sanctioned
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...
events since
1996.
After being reconfigured in 2007, the track has a 20° banking in each of the turns, while the rounded front stretch and the back straightaway has a 9° banking.
The front stretch, the location of the finish line, is long, longer than the back straightaway.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway also has a grandstand seating capacity of 138,000 people.
Matt Kenseth
Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX)
Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...
was the defending winner of the race.
Entry list
The entry list for the Kobalt 400 was released on Thursday, March 6 at 3:08 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-eight cars were entered for the race.
Practice
First practice
Carl Edwards
Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...
was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.128 and a speed of .
Qualifying
The race was the first to use the three-round knockout format for 1.25 miles (2.00 km) and longer tracks.
* The first round is 25 minutes. Competitors may drive as many laps as they wish, the fastest lap will count.
** The 24 fastest competitors in the first round advance to the second round.
** Those finishing in 25th-36th position start based on their speed.
** Those failing to qualify will have their owner points totals calculated. The six teams with the most owner points (previous year's at this race only) will take 37–42.
** The most recent former Sprint Cup champion not in the field will then be added, if necessary. If not, the seventh highest team in owner points not in the field will take the 43rd position.
** Positions 37-43 will be ranked by speed.
* The second round is ten minutes.
** The 12 fastest competitors advancing to the final round.
** Those failing to advance will start 13th-24th based on their speed in the second round.
* The final round is five minutes.
** The fastest driver in this round starts first.
** Positions 2-12 will be determined by their fastest laps in this round only.
Joey Logano
Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Ser ...
won the pole with a new track record time of 27.939 and a speed of ,
leading a
Team Penske
Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...
front row ahead of
Brad Keselowski
Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...
. Logano stated that to "have a Penske front row the last two weekends at two completely different race tracks just goes to show how hard these guys have been working", while also stating that the team "obviously haven't won on Sunday yet, so we've got to figure out the big show, but we've had some good speed in our cars".
Keselowski added that his car needed "a little bit more in race trim", and that he would "get a better idea and read for that tomorrow when we get back in race trim, but qualifying trim I think we've got our cars really refined well for this package and I'm very proud of where we're at".
The issue of cool down laps came up again since
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
does not allow teams to use cool down units.
Clint Bowyer
Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''.
He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight yea ...
stated that he was "not a huge fan of the cool down deal", and hoped NASCAR would look into the situation in regards to the closing speeds on track.
Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kenneth Kahne (; born April 10, 1980) is an American dirt track racing driver and former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2018, driving the No. 95 Dumont Jets/ Procore Technolo ...
cut a tire down on his cool down lap.
Upon exiting his car, Kahne felt that "NASCAR doesn't have enough people to make a call that we can change it" and that he "sat there and waited and we didn't get to cool our car down".
Dave Blaney
David Louis Blaney (born October 24, 1962) is a semi-retired American professional stock car racing driver. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR, competing in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Ser ...
,
Landon Cassill
Landon Douglas Cassill (born July 7, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing.
Early career
Cassill was born in Cedar R ...
,
Blake Koch
Blake Koch (born August 7, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and businessman. He last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 11 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. He is also the founder of FilterTime, a r ...
,
Joe Nemechek
Joseph Frank Nemechek III (born September 26, 1963) is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Nemechek has made the second mos ...
and
J. J. Yeley failed to qualify.
Qualifying results
Practice (post-qualifying)
Second practice
Brian Vickers
Brian Lee Vickers (born October 24, 1983) is an American professional stock car and sports car racing driver. He last drove the No. 14 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing as an interim driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for the injured ...
was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.579 and a speed of .
Final practice
Jamie McMurray
James Christopher McMurray (born June 3, 1976), nicknamed Jamie Mac, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an analyst for '' Fox NASCAR''. He raced in the NASCAR Cup Series on a full-time basis from 2003 to 2018 ...
was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.886 and a speed of .
Race
First half
![Brad Keselowski (8638479414)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Brad_Keselowski_%288638479414%29.jpg)
The race began at 3:20 p.m. when
Joey Logano
Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Ser ...
led the field to the green flag. The first caution of the race flew on lap 17 after
Josh Wise
Joshua Wise (born February 7, 1983) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an athletic trainer for Chip Ganassi Racing. He began racing in open wheel cars. Wise won the 1999 USAC 3/4 Midget Division, 2005 USAC ...
's engine expired on the backstretch.
Brad Keselowski
Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...
stayed out when the leaders pitted and assumed the lead for the restart on lap 23. Immediately thereafter, Keselowski spun his tires and lost the lead to teammate Logano. Debris in turn 3 brought out the second caution of the race on lap 45.
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
took just two tires, and beat Logano in the race off pit road, and led the field to the restart on lap 50.
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-time ...
took the lead from Johnson on lap 77 and held the lead to the next round of pit stops, on lap 96.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...
inherited the lead for a lap before he pitted, when the lead returned to Busch. Busch retained the lead to almost half distance, when
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...
took the lead on lap 130. He held the lead until his next pit stop on lap 140.
Second half
Busch, Keselowski and
Matt Kenseth
Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX)
Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...
each had short spells out front before the lead re-cycled to Harvick, on lap 144. Debris on the backstretch brought out the third caution of the race on lap 155. Keselowski stayed out when the others pitted, to retake the lead for the restart on lap 161. With 73 laps to go, Harvick started having engine troubles that took him out of the race; this was the first of five straight races where he was plagued by mechanical trouble. The following lap, Keselowski gave up the lead to pit, when Johnson reclaimed the lead.
Paul Menard
John Paul Christian Menard (born August 21, 1980) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Tundra for ThorSport Racing.
M ...
moved to the front with 68 laps to go, but pitted with 62 laps to go and Johnson assumed the lead. He pitted the next lap to pass the lead to Earnhardt.
Denny Hamlin
James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and NASCAR team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He co-owns and ope ...
took the lead with 56 laps to go, but pitted the next lap and the lead returned to Keselowski. Debris on the frontstretch brought out the fourth caution with 47 laps to go. Earnhardt Jr. stayed out when the leaders pitted to take the lead for the restart with 42 laps to go.
Final lap
On the final lap of the race, Earnhardt Jr. ran out of gas exiting turn 2 and Keselowski passed him to take the checkered flag.
Keselowski praised his
Team Penske
Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...
organization, stating that they were "just doing everything so well right now", while also stating his pleasure with the victory and the added bonus of being a competitor in the
Chase for the Sprint Cup
The NASCAR playoffs is a championship playoff system used in NASCAR's three national series. The system was founded as 'The Chase for the Championship' on January 21, 2004, and was used exclusively in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2004 to 2015. Si ...
later in the season, stating that he did not "have to hear all that crap all year long about not being in the Chase".
Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed with the way that his race finished, describing running out of gas as "tough", while stating that he and his team "have got a good thing going, we've got to be positive. We've got to keep trying to win races. I know my fans are disappointed, but we got to stay positive".
Race results
Race summary
* Lead changes: 21 among different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 4 for 18
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 2 hours, 35 minutes and 24 seconds
* Average speed:
Media
Television
Radio
Standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Manufacturers' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the first sixteen positions are included for the driver standings.
References
{{2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup
Kobalt 400
The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the first of two races at Las Vegas with the other one being the South Point 400 in the pla ...
Kobalt 400
The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the first of two races at Las Vegas with the other one being the South Point 400 in the pla ...
Kobalt 400
The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held annually at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the first of two races at Las Vegas with the other one being the South Point 400 in the pla ...
NASCAR races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway