The 2018 Pennzoil 400 was a

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the 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. In 1971, ...

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 4, 2018, 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 ...

Las Vegas 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 Vegas ...

. Contested over 267 laps on the asphalt intermediate speedway, it was the third race of the

2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series The 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series was the 70th season of NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States, and the 47th modern-era Cup series season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto ...

season.

Report

Background

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, across ...

outside the

city limits and about 15 miles northeast of the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by

Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, IndyCar Series, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has i ...

, which is headquartered in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

Entry list

First practice

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 champ ...

was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.323 seconds and a speed of .

Qualifying

Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney ...

scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.200 and a speed of .

Qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice

was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.791 seconds and a speed of .

Final practice

was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.963 seconds and a speed of .

Race

First stage

Start

led the field to the green flag at 3:46 p.m. Blaney led a total of one lap, and

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 champio ...

took the lead on lap 2, and led 37 laps, but then Michael McDowell took the lead on lap 39 and led 11 laps, and

regained the lead on lap 49 and led the 80-lap first stage. He finished 3.6 seconds in front of

Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...

, leading 68 of the 80 laps. Also in the top five were

and

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 Seri ...

. The first caution of the race flew for conclusion of stage 1.

Second stage

The race restarted on lap 89,

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-t ...

took the lead on lap 122, and led 4 laps, but then

regained the lead on lap 126 and dominated the race in its second stage, winning by 5.3 seconds over

. Following were

and

. Harvick led 76 of the stage’s 80 laps. The second caution of the race flew for conclusion of stage 2.

Final stage

The race restarted on lap 167, and it remained green for 10 laps. The third caution of the race flew on lap 176 after

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 b ...

slapped the outside wall. He parked his Chevrolet. The race restarted on lap 183 and the fourth caution of the race flew when

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

lost control of his car in heavy traffic with 84 laps to go and slid up the track into

Chase Elliott William Clyde "Chase" Elliott II (born November 28, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the 2014 NAS ...

and into the wall. Both cars suffered heavy damage. The race restarted on lap 195. Harvick drove on to score his third career victory and second at Las Vegas.

Post race

“I know how hard it is to get to victory lane, and to know we have been there 100 times is something I almost can't fathom,” Harvick said.

Stage Results

Stage 1 ''Laps:'' 80 Stage 2 ''Laps:'' 80

Final Stage Results

Stage 3 ''Laps:'' 107

Race statistics

* 11 lead changes among 6 different drivers * 4 cautions for 29 laps * Time of race: 2 hours, 49 minutes and 31 seconds * Average speed: * Margin of victory: 2.906 seconds

Media

Television

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

covered their 18th race at the

Mike Joy Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadcast ...

, 2001 race winner

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

and

Darrell Waltrip Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is an American motorsports analyst, author, former national television broadcaster, and stock car driver. He raced from 1972 to 2000 in the NASCAR Cup Series (known as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series dur ...

called from the booth for the race.

Jamie Little Jamie Little (born April 9, 1978) is an American pit reporter for NASCAR coverage on Fox. Little is a former pit reporter for ESPN/ABC coverage of the Indy Racing League, although she returned to her pit reporting duty for the 2007 and 2008 In ...

Vince Welch Vincent Welch (born August 4, 1964) is an American radio and television personality most recently for Fox Sports. Until 2022, Welch was the play-by-play commentator for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and occasionally, a pit reporter for FOX ...

and

Matt Yocum Matthew Yocum (born April 8, 1968) is a long-standing reporter in motorsports, best known for being a NASCAR pit reporter. He works for CBS as a pit reporter to cover the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) as of 2021. He most recently worked in tha ...

handled the pit road duties for the television side.

Radio

PRN covered the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and

Wendy Venturini Wendy Venturini (born January 30, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American reporter for the Performance Racing Network (PRN). She works as broadcaster for NASCAR Cup Series races and sometimes as a pit reporter for races on PRN. She had been a ...

called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards worked pit road for the radio side.

Penalties

On March 7, 2018, NASCAR assessed the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford an L1 penalty for violating sections 20.4.8.1 (dealing with rear window support) and 20.4.18 (rocker panel extensions). A brace that supports the rear window failed and did not meet specifications for keeping the rear window glass rigid in all directions, at all times. Additionally, the rocker panel extension was not aluminum. The team would be docked 20 driver and owner points, the win would not count toward playoffs, crew chief Rodney Childers was fined $50,000 and car chief Robert Smith would be suspended for the next two races. Additionally, the No. 55 team was penalized for a loose lug nut during inspection and crew chief Todd Parrott was fined $10,000.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennzoil 400, 2018 2018 in sports in Nevada 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series March 2018 sports events in the United States NASCAR races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway