At the Kobalt 400 there were some fireworks at the end, but also some good racing in between. Brad Keselowski had the best car of the day, leading 89 laps in this affair while taking the pole to start the Kobalt 400. But at the end, with only two laps to go, something broke in Brad's car, allowing Martin Truex Jr. to pass. Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps of the day with 150 and took the win. It was the first of the season for Martin and the 8th of his career.
Suspense in between
This young year has seen a lot of penalties and last second suspense in the last stages of every race.
Last week it was Kevin Harvick speeding on pit road being penalized with 14 laps to go, and this week it was Brad Keselowski's car breaking down at the end of the race. Later, Paul Wolfe, Keselowski's pit crew chief, found it was a broken front hub that took him down.“It’s frustrating, but you put yourself in position to win and good things will happen,” Keselowski said to SBNation. "That happened to us last week and didn’t happen this week, so you just pick up the pieces and move on. Luckily, they’re big pieces. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
Some drivers just had tough days all around. We keep seeing tire blow outs, eliminating big names each week. This week was Kevin Harvick's turn, blowing out a tire and slamming into the wall.
Afterward, in the pits, Harvick voiced his displeasure in how long it took the safety team to reach his car.
Caution! @KevinHarvick loses a right-front tire and gets hard into the wall at @LVMotorSpeedway.#NASCARGoesWest https://t.co/BZUYpqD0np
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) March 12, 2017
Danica Patrick suffered an awful engine failure with less than 20 laps left at the Kobalt 400.
Smoke poured out of her car like it was on fire.
Caution! @DanicaPatrick's engine goes up in smoke at @LVMotorSpeedway. #NASCARGoesWest @FOXTV https://t.co/2gKzutbD9t
— FOX SPORTS: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 12, 2017
Good, old-fashioned race fight
The real fun everyone is talking about is the fight between Kyle Busch and Joey Logano after the Kobalt 400 finished.
It all stemmed from a tap from Joey that spun out Kyle in the last lap of the race.
We've got a fight in Las Vegas at the end of the #Kobalt400! @KyleBusch attacks @joeylogano's crew on pit road! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/oWvEz6IWs0
— Chicken Bone Alley (@CBoneAlley) March 12, 2017
While Truex was celebrating on the front stretch, Kyle Busch was trying to knock Logano's head off. Kyle, without saying a word, walked to Joey and swung for the fences.
RT 👈 If you missed the @KyleBusch @joeylogano fight I have the exclusive footage 🎥 #NASCARGoesWest #Nascar #FightClub #WaitForIt 🙄 pic.twitter.com/KyG9cy8T8Z
— Slick Sweaty (@allsweaty) March 13, 2017
They put a microphone right in front of Joey after the fight and he actually didn't have anything bad to say about Kyle.
He said they usually race really well together. He claimed the Kyle pinned him down underneath Brad Keselowski and they just crashed coming back to the center. We will see what Nascar officials do in terms of punishment, but, overall it was a fantastic event.