Bubba Wallace Could Struggle At Vegas

Bubba Wallace and the 23XI Racing car struggled at Vegas last year. Other than the 2020 early race where he finished sixth, the No. 23 car has been outside the top-15 every other time. That is not a good sign heading into Sunday's race with the Next-Gen cars. While Wallace has shown improvement over last […]

Daniel Hemric Gains Intrigue For Pennzoil 400

Daniel Hemric showed a little something last week with his ninth-place result at Fontana. He was able to keep his wits about him and stay in the top 10 during the most crucial part of the race. The younger NASCAR drivers are making their presence felt. Hemric last raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in […]

Brad Keselowski Starts 15th On Sunday From Vegas

Brad Keselowski arguably ended a couple more drivers' races last week. Keselowski races aggressively and that will not change. He has a peculiar consistency on the 1.5-mile Vegas track. His average finish is an active best at 5.67. Despite that, he leads just 3.1% of the laps and has not won in his previous six […]

William Byron Could Carry Speed At Vegas Sunday

William Byron was turning in some fast laps during the Saturday practice session. That being said, the Hendricks car will start outside of Row 7 from Las Vegas. Byron was one of six cars that turned in a sub-30 second qualifying lap. Now, how does this work when it comes into longer runs? The Next-Gen […]

Alex Bowman A Bit Of A Mystery At Pennzoil 400

Alex Bowman and the Hendricks Motorsports Racing team looked great in the first practice session on Saturday but qualifying was not quite so kind. As a result, he begins 13th on Sunday from Las Vegas. Bowman was mired in car issues last year and finished two laps down (27th) both times. The idea is does […]

Martin Truex Jr.'s Consistency On Display At Vegas

Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing car have enjoyed some solid numbers at the speedway. This week, he begins 12th on the 1.5-mile tri-oval. It does not seem like he is the fastest during these longer final stages but he is fast enough. The 107 laps this week will be a […]

Ryan Blaney Another Penske Driver To Watch At Vegas

Ryan Blaney has shown some solid consistency at Las Vegas. In his past six races, he has four top-ten results and an average finish of 9.17. He has had a few issues which has kept him from finishing even better. Blaney and the Team Penske Ford had consecutive fifth-place results in 2021. While he only […]

Austin Dillon Shows More Potential At Vegas

Austin Dillon nearly rewarded those who rostered him with a win last week at Fontana. He finished second just a hair behind Kyle Larson. Dillon was around a quarter of a second back when all was said and done. His car was several mph faster in certain sectors. The No. 3 Chevy can be a […]

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Begins Ninth On Sunday From Vegas

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and JTG Daugherty Racing have a nice opportunity on Sunday. They begin the Vegas race from the ninth position. Stenhouse Jr. was in it to win it late at Daytona. He then netted a top-ten at Fontana against plenty of odds. Stenhouse Jr. does have a couple of top-ten finishes in the […]

Denny Hamlin Looking To Bounce Back At Vegas

Denny Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing car struggled last week with that pesky engine issue. Don't use screens, period. Hamlin begins the Vegas race eighth on Sunday. The No. 11 has led the most laps on the 1.5-mile track at a rate of 19.2%. Hamlin has four top-tens and a win since 2019. It […]

Tyler Reddick A Popular Choice To Contend At Las Vegas

The one thing Tyler Reddick has shown this season is his ability to not race with any fear. Reddick being able to side draft cars several times last week was an indication of that. He starts the Pennzoil 400 from the seventh spot. Reddick led seven laps in the first Vegas race last year before […]

Joey Logano The Dangerous Penske Driver At Las Vegas

Joey Logano and the Team Penske car are inevitably just very good at Las Vegas. Logano won the race in back to back years and leads all drivers in driver rating since 2019 (109.2). That includes leading more than 15% of the laps and four top ten results. Logano begins from the sixth position on […]

Chase Elliott Begins Fifth At Vegas

Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports like to live dangerously. This time, it was costly. Though Elliott will start fifth on Sunday at Las Vegas, two failed inspections will mean his crew chief and pit selection preference are gone. That may not seemingly mean too much, but then again it might. The No. 9 car has […]

Chase Briscoe Nabs Spot Outside Row 2 For Las Vegas

Chase Briscoe will begin the Pennzoil 400 from the fourth spot on Sunday. Briscoe could be a bit of a question mark. He did seem to improve a bit in the second race at Vegas during the playoffs last season. Briscoe got into the top ten at points before dropping to 14th overall. That was […]

Austin Cindric Starts Third At Las Vegas On Sunday

Austin Cindric is in a good position going into the Pennzoil 400 on Sunday. This is more than just starting third. Cindric drives for Team Penske. Team Penske has won a few of these races lately on the low to medium-wear track. The tri-oval can be a bit testy but it seems the three Ford […]

Kyle Larson Starts Outside Row 1 For Pennzoil 400

Kyle Larson nearly pulled off the double on Sunday. He was the fastest in practice and nearly won the qualifying on Saturday. In the end, the No. 5 car was second behind Christopher Bell. The result is that Larson will begin Sunday outside Row 1. After winning last week's race, Larson will attempt to make […]

Christopher Bell Wins Pole At Vegas

Christopher Bell put the problems of the first two weeks behind him and won the pole for the Pennzoil 400 on Sunday. His 182.673 mph lap bested Kyle Larson's effort by 0.289 seconds. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is the second driver this year to win their first career pole. The other was Austin Cindric […]

Greyson Sigg Has Some Questions After Honda Classic

Greyson Sigg created more questions than answers after missing the cut last week at The Honda Classic. He could not recover from an opening-round 75 (plus-five). Add in the two rounds over 72, and Sigg just did not come close to seeing the weekend last week. Sigg could easily bounce back, but a lot of […]

Aaron Wise Has Lower Potential At Arnold Palmer

Aaron Wise has missed the cut in three of his last four tournaments. The one, he made, was The Genesis Invitational. Wise barely made the cut on his way to finishing tied for 67th. The American shot 70 or worse in every one of those rounds. That makes nine straight rounds now. Wise is 90th […]

Chris Kirk Carrying Momentum Into This Week

Even with a bit of a drop-off over the weekend last week at The Honda Classic, Chris Kirk did finish tied for seventh. Kirk was right near the top early into the third round. That is when the Georgian's game went south a bit. Kirk's triple bogey on 15 on Sunday just killed any hope […]

Branden Grace Trying To Find His Game At Arnold Palmer

Branden Grace is just not striking the golf ball well or doing much of anything well lately. He could not make anywhere near enough birdies at the season opener. He could not make the cut at the Sony Open. Furthermore, Grace could not get going at all at the Genesis. It was bad. This was […]

Keegan Bradley May Struggle At Arnold Palmer

Keegan Bradley needs to string four rounds together this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The growing sense is that Bradley may just not be capable of that right now. The last time he did so was the Sony Open, where he finished T12. Since then, it has been a bit of a roller coaster […]

Charles Howell III Looking For Solace At Arnold Palmer

Charles Howell III has probably had two of the worst weeks he could ever ask for from a golf perspective. It is not just that he missed the cut, it is how. Howell III had an awful round that sealed his fate where he could not make putts. Then, erratic stroke play created even more […]

Cameron Tringale's Up-And-Down Season May Continue

Cameron Tringale has been up and down and all over the place this season on the PGA Tour. It seems like he alternates very good finishes with missing cuts. This seems to border on the almost crazy. That up and down nature has affected his numbers somewhat but when he is on, he is top-20 […]

Erik van Rooyen Faces Questions At Arnold Palmer

Erik van Rooyen has played pretty well on the tour in the early going in 2022. The South African golfer has made six straight cuts. Though he has not finished inside the top 20, van Rooyen has not finished worse than T54. On the other side, he has not truly contended since his win last […]

Patrick Reed Needs Something To Lean On This Week

Last week, Patrick Reed may have hit rock bottom. At The Honda Classic, Reed blew up on the back nine en route to a disastrous 79. That back nine featured three double bogeys and three bogeys in all. The week before, Reed started with an awful 77 at The Genesis Invitational. Can Reed find a […]

Aric Almirola Ends Up Sixth At Wise Power 400

Aric Almirola was near the top at the end of the Daytona 500 last week. He wound up fifth after being fifth at the restart. Almirola was again near the top contenders this Sunday at Fontana. This time, the result was one start worse but the Ford driver still ended up sixth. The No. 10 […]

Joey Logano Finishes In Top Five At Fontana

Joey Logano wound up as the top Ford driver on Sunday at Fontana. He finished fifth as his No. 22 car slipped heavily on the final lap as he dropped nearly a second from the top three drivers. His Team Penske vehicle just did not seem to have that short burst speed needed to stay […]

Daniel Suarez Nearly Pulls Off Win At Fontana

Daniel Suarez had it right there in the final laps of the Wise Power 400. Everything set up as he was in a prime position. In the end, Kyle Larson passed him once, then Suarez battled back to take the lead. Then Larson got incensed and took the lead at the end of lap 198. […]

Erik Jones Proves Qualifying Was No Fluke At Fontana

Erik Jones qualified second for the Wise Power 400 and little was expected. He was a long shot but there projected to be longer runs. That did not quite work out on Sunday as Fontana featured 12 cautions and 32 lead changes. The result allowed Jones to creep closer and closer as the last restart […]