Martin Truex Jr Hits the Jackpot, Sweeps Las Vegas Before Fight Breaks Out

Martin Truex Jr celebrates in victory lane at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
(Google Images)

Martin Truex Jr won four races last year. He also came close to winning a lot more races in 2016 too. The No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team lost races because of ill-timed caution flags, late-race accidents, and a bolt on a wheel spacer balancing perfectly on a hub to create a vibration late in the spring Kansas race. They just couldn't seem to shake the little black rain cloud that seemed to make the trip with them every week from Denver, Colorado.

After topping two practice sessions and qualifying in second place, it seemed that Truex's No. 78 Camry would be one of the cars to beat again heading into the Kobalt 400. But polesitter Brad Keselowski jumped out to an early lead and dominated the first 80 laps of the race. By lap 53, the Penske Racing driver had over a two second lead over Truex.

Keselowski's Ford might've been the class of the field early on, but Kevin Harvick's bad luck from Atlanta seemed to follow him to Sin City. The 2014 champion blew a tire and hit the wall at the start/finish line. After being released from the infield care center, Harvick, who had last weekend;s race at Atlanta in hand until a late-race speeding penalty cost him the victory, told reporters that the car "started vibrating about four or five laps before it blew out, and I was just trying to ride it to the end of the stage... the worst part was the medical response; it took forever for them to get to the car. I thought we made that better, but obviously, we haven't... it either just cut a tire, or came apart and melted the bead."

Truex came in for four tires during the caution for the Harvick incident, which enabled him to get out to a two-second lead and win Stage One. Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Keselowski, and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five at the end of the stage.

Following Derrike Cope's slip up in turn three on lap 152, Truex and the rest of the frontrunners made their way to pit road before the end of the second segment. The New Jersey native beat Keselowski off pit road again, using this momentum to go on to win the second stage. Keselowski and Larson would wind up looking at Truex's rear bumper again coming to the green checkered flag.

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates his first win of 2017
(Google Images)

For Truex, his team, and anyone who is a fan of Furniture Row Racing, they knew this is where something usually happens to derail their dominance. A loose lug nut, a slow pit stop, losing their clutch like the week in Atlanta. They had already captured 20 championship points and two playoff points for their pair of stage victories, so another shoe had to drop at some point.

Well, that shoe dropped late in the final stage. As Truex was being stalked by Keselowski's No. 2 Ford, he needed to make a track bar adjustment to improve his car's handling. But when he reached for the dial to make the change, nothing happened. Something had happened to disconnect the track bar from the mechanism that allows Truex to adjust it from the cockpit.

As Keselowski passed Truex with 24 laps to go, he began to stretch his lead. All Truex said over the radio was "Oh track bar, where art thou?!"

Then Danica Patrick, who had been nursing a sick Ford around the racetrack for much of the second half of the day,  lost an engine with 17 laps to go. This totally changed the complexion of the race and indicated that the little black rain cloud that normally follows the No. 78 team from track to track might not have made the trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

On the final restart, Keselowski passed Truex again on the high side off of turn two. Then, as quickly as he had taken the lead, "Bad Brad's" Miller Lite Ford was slowly being reeled back in by Truex's Bass Pro Shops Camry.

Something had broken on Keselowski's that caused him to lose his brakes, which enabled Truex to pass him back off of turn two with just two laps to go.

In the end, the black cloud had dissipated, the bad luck took the weekend off, and Martin Truex Jr scored his first win of the 2017 season. This was also the first win for the new 2018 Toyota Camry and the first time a driver had swept all three stages of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race. This netted Truex 60 championship points and seven playoff points.

"We definitely had our share of races where we've dominated and gave one away, and it looked like today was going to be another one of those," Truex said after the race. "We had to run that last set of tires on that last caution longer than we did all race long. I was out of control, and Brad was really good on the long run. I hate that he had problems. He was strong and we weren't going to do anything with him, but then he lost the brakes or something. A little bit of a gift, but we've given some away, so it feels good to come out on the good end for once."

Kyle Busch (center with back to camera) takes a swing at
Joey Logano (center in black hat) (Google Images)

But unfortunately, it was the extracurricular activities on pit road that stole the show after Truex took the checkered flag.

On the final lap, Joey Logano pinned Kyle Busch behind Keselowski's slower car going into turn three while racing for fourth. Busch dove under Keselowski, bumped Logano down the track and drove off into the final set of turns. But that bumped messed up Logano's entry into turn three, which caused him to get loose under Busch and slide up into him, sending the No. 18 car sliding down the track to the entrance of pit road.

Busch climbed from his smoking cockpit, tossed his helmet onto his seat and set off briskly down pit road to find Logano's fourth-place machine. Flanked by Joe Gibbs Racing handlers, Busch approached Logano and took a swing at the Penske Racing driver.

While it was a good swing, Busch's punch didn't make contact. To make matters worse, he was promptly tackled to the ground by several members of Logano's pit crew. He was dragged away from the scuffle with a bloody cut on his forehead.

You can click here to watch a full video of the fight. The footage was captured by Jeff Gluck of JeffGluck.com.

When asked about the altercation after the fact, Logano said that Busch didn't have much to say on the incident.

“Not a lot of talking,” Logano said. “Just a lot of swinging. We usually don’t have any issues.”

When asked if any punches were landed, Logano smirked and simply replied, “none to me.”

Fox Sports pit reporter Vince Welch caught up with Busch walking through the garage area. He told Welch that that's simply the way Logano races and that "he's gonna get it."

After announcing that they would receive a second date in the playoffs next year, a move that was lambasted by many fans because another "cookie cutter" mile-and-a-half track took a date from a short, one-mile track (New Hampshire Motor Speedway), Sunday's Kobalt 400 might have proved that Las Vegas Motor Speedway might be worthy of a second race after all. With the excitement that fans saw on and off the track, this should fire every race fan up for what the rest of 2017 has in store.

Kurt Busch Beats Young Guns to Win First Daytona 500

Kurt Busch won the Daytona 500 in his 17th try (Google Images)

It was a long offseason for Stewart-Haas Racing.

This time last year, the team announced that they would be leaving Chevrolet and their coveted alliance with Hendrick Motorsports to run Fords during the 2017 campaign, new hire Clint Bowyer began his transition into team co-owner Tony Stewart's old ride, and the sponsor of the majority of Danica Patrick's races, Nature's Bakery, announced last month they would be leaving the team, resulting in SHR filing a breach of contract suit and a counterclaim by Nature's Bakery.

So what better way to overcome all this change and adversity than to go out and win the biggest race of the year, right? Well, that's exactly what Kurt Busch and his No. 41 Ford team did.

This race also featured the return of Dale Earnhardt Jr. NASCAR's most popular driver spent the last 18 races of the 2016 season on the sidelines after suffering a concussion. Junior just missed out on the pole for the 59th running of the "Great American Race" and was forced to start second to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, sophomore driver Chase Elliott. This was Elliott's second consecutive Daytona 500 pole.

Elliott and Earnhardt led the field to green and led NASCAR into a new era. For the first time ever, NASCAR would run their races in stages, rather than non-stop green flag to checkered. Races would instead be broken up into three stages, with Daytona being broken into 60, 60, and 120 lap stints to make up the 200 lap total distance. Stage winners would receive 10 regular season points and one playoff point to count towards their championship run.

Dale Jr (88) and Kyle Busch (18) wreck at Daytona
(Google Images)

The race ran caution free until pit stops began around lap 17 when the Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing Toyotas came in for service. Rookie Erik Jones overshot his pit box, while fellow freshman Daniel Suarez was hit with a pass through penalty for speeding. But both of their issues paled in comparison to Corie LaJoie's problems. While attempting to slow down to enter pit road, LaJoie locked up his brakes, slid past the entrance to pit road, and hit the outside wall.

Aside from these minor incidents, the race got off to a relatively calm start. But it wouldn't stay that way for long.

Restrictor plate tracks are known for close quarters racing and spectacular multi-car wrecks. It's never a matter of if "the Big One" will happen, but when it will happen and how many cars will get swept up in it. So the question on everyone's mind was could their favorite driver avoid trouble as the afternoon wore on.

At the close of the first stage, Kyle Busch was the leader and collected 10 championship points and a playoff point for the win.

When the race went back to green, SHR teammates Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick on the front row. The team was beginning their switch to Ford look seamless.

Then the first of several big wrecks happened on lap 105. Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, and Jones were drafting together after making pit stops and trying to stay on the lead lap. Busch was leading the Toyota trio into turn three, just ahead of the leaders when he blew a tire. Busch's No. 18 M&M's Camry spun into the wall and collected Jones, Kenseth, and the race-leading car of Earnhardt Jr. 

After suffering a serious concussion last year, NASCAR Nation collectively held their breath when Junior's No. 88 Chevy rode over Busch's right front fender and into the outside wall. But he told reporters that his head felt fine and he was ready to head to Atlanta for the next race.

The 2017 edition of stock car racing's biggest event began calmly, but the Daytona garage area would quickly turn into a junkyard in the third segment, as Junior's wreck would be the first of many on the day.

Jamie McMurray pushed Jimmie Johnson into turn 3 on lap 127, triggering a 14-car pileup that collected Patrick, Bowyer, and Harvick. Following an incident involving Roush-Fenway Racing teammates Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Trevor  Bayne, McMurray would trigger another wreck with 59 laps remaining in the race that collected Ryan Newman, rookie drivers Suarez and Ty Dillon, and Brad Keselowski.

Kurt Busch celebrates his first Daytona win with his crew
(Google Images)

The race would resume with 47 laps and only a handful of cars remaining. Aric Almirola grabbed the lead from Cole Whitt after the green flag, but Kyle Larson would wrestle the top spot away just a few laps later. The youth movement at the front of the field continued when Joey Logano grabbed the lead from Larson with 37 to go, followed by Elliott charging to toe front just ten laps later. 

But with seven laps to go, Elliott ran out of fuel handing the lead to last year's runner-up Martin Truex Jr. The New Jersey native looked primed to grab his first Harley J. Earle trophy after losing last year's race by two-thousandths of a second. But Truex, too, would run out of gas after taking the white flag. This handed the lead back to Larson, who's fuel cell ran dry down the backstrech on the final lap. This enabled Busch to grab the lead and win his first Daytona 500.

After finishing second in the Great American Race three times, Busch was finally able to pull into victory lane. The win was also huge for his crew chief Tony Gibson, who grew up just hours from the speedway and had never won the Daytona 500 as a crew chief. It was also huge for all of SHR. After switching to Ford, many wrote the team off, saying it would take a while for the team to regain the strong footing they had while running Hendrick-powered Chevrolets. 

But clearly, Busch and SHR have proven that they will be a force this season. SHR might've missed out on the final four in last year's playoffs, but with Busch's Daytona triumph locking him into this year's title hunt, the sky is the limit for Stewart Haas Racing.