NASCAR
High Roller Larson Takes Third Las Vegas Victory Over Reddick
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Perhaps NASCAR’s greatest showman put on a performance of the ages at Las Vegas. Kyle Larson swept all three stages and led over 180 laps in the Pennzoil 400 for his third desert win. Chevrolet remains perfect in the 2024 season, while Hendrick Motorsports has two drivers already as Playoff locks. This marks HMS’ fourth straight spring Las Vegas victory, and two in a row for Larson.
Picking up right where he left off in last fall’s desert domination, Kyle Larson took Stage 1. His closest competitor was defending winner and teammate William Byron. The No. 24 suffered a massive setback though when he caught a huge piece of debris on his grille, forcing an unscheduled pit stop. This sent Byron back to 35th, forcing him to fight forward for the rest of the day.
Larson soon found the lead again in Stage 2 and never looked back. The No. 5 took a second straight Stage sweep from Las Vegas, with both victories coming narrowly over Tyler Reddick. The No. 45 Toyota appeared as the only competitor within Larson’s zip code. Reddick saw close second place runs in both stages.
Larson’s only time not out front in Stage 3 would be during the green flag pit stop cycle. The 5 quickly built up a large lead, only to extend it on pit road. A late yellow for a spinning Corey Lajoie kept the field close, but nobody could stay ahead of the 5.
Despite his lightning pace, Larson began losing ground late to Tyler Reddick. The 45 inched his way toward the 5 over the closing 10 laps. With two laps remaining, Reddick was there but he was aggressively blocked by Larson. Reddick was a painfully close second three times in Vegas, in both stages and trailing by four tenths at the checkers.
“I knew Tyler was going to be the guy to beat from the first stage,” Larson said. “He was really fast there. I was hoping those guys were going to get racing a little bit longer behind me because I felt like it was going to time out where he was running really hard and getting the tow to catch me at the end.”
“Thankfully was able to air block him a couple laps and get him tight. I thought him and Bubba were going to get working together again to build a run, so I was happy that didn’t happen.”
“But all in all, such a great job by this Hendrick Cars Chevy team and just their execution. Pit road, restarts, all that was great. Cool to get a win here at Vegas again. Back-to-back, swept all the stages again. Can’t ask for much more.”
Reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney was a distant third behind Larson and Reddick. The No. 12 Ford just beat out Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs. The rest of the top-10 were: Noah Gragson, Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and William Byron.
Career win number 24 for Kyle Larson is also his third at Las Vegas. Larson has now won a west coast swing race in three of four seasons with Hendrick Motorsports. The 5 team will try and go back-to-back at Phoenix Raceway, another track where they have found success. The Shriners Children’s 500 goes green Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
