It was Jeff Gordon’s race all day long. The race went green and Jeff pulled away. Other than than that, there were intermittent lead changes. With 25 to go, it boiled down to Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson trying to decide who is going to take whom to the checkers.
Jeff stayed high knowing that Jimmie’s car wasn’t that good for passing low. But did that work the rest of the race?
How’d They Get Here?
Our first caution saw Kevin Conway get a wee bit too high in turn 2 on the 2nd lap. The restart saw Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano lead them back to the green.
The 2nd caution came out on lap 45 when Mike Bliss plowed into the outside wall in turn 2, ruining his Kim Kardashian sponsored car.
Headed to the track!
Lap 53 was our third caution as the caution lights never turned off on the restart. The restart from this caution saw Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch & Carl Edwards take them to the restart.
Of course Jeff Gordon reclaimed the lead soon afterward.
When Sam Hornish spun for yellow no 4 on lap 89, it was a short lived green as Jamie McMurray slid up the track just enough to collect Juan Pablo Montoya and one of the race favorites, Kurt Busch for the 5th caution on lap 93.
Our 6th caution was for the caution lights coming on. Fox never touched on any more details on that issue.
We then went green long enough to see green flag pit stops, and by lap 177, the number of laps that Jeff Gordon led set a record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has having led the most laps in a race at LVMS.
Lap 218 was trouble for Kyle Busch as he got himself a speeding penalty which relegated him out of contention for the win.
Lap 228 saw our 7th and final caution as Kevin Conway decided to recolor the outside wall of turn 2.
But on this stop, 19 cars took the pass around and elected not to pit to get back on the lead lap.
The restart saw Clint Bowyer lead the pack with Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin lead the pack, but Jeff and Jimmie made quick work of Bowyer on his old tires.
That last pit stop, Jeff Gordon’s team changed 2 instead of 4 tires like Jimmie did. Weird call for whatever reason.
How’d It Finish?
The battle for the lead in the last 15 laps didn’t last long as Jimmie Johnson powered down into the low pass and slid up in front of Jeff. Game over after that as Jimmie Johnson raced to the checkered flag, for his first back-to-back win in 2010, his 7th in his career.
Jeff Gordon set the record for laps led by having led 218 laps today.
The top-10 for the Shelby American at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway NASCAR event was
- Jimmie Johnson,
- Kevin Harvick,
- Jeff Gordon,
- Mark Martin,
- Matt Kenseth,
- Joey Logano,
- Tony Stewart,
- Clint Bowyer,
- Kasey Kahne
- Greg Biffle.
Selected other finishers:
- Carl Edwards – 12th
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 16th
- Ryan Newman – 18th
- A.J. Allmendinger – 25th
- Bobby Labonte – 38th
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Las Vegas: Unofficial Results | Unofficial Standings
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