Odds are these 10 Sprint Cup drivers bear watching at Las Vegas
Mark Martin has a series-high nine top-10s in 12 career starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway including a win in the track's inaugural Cup race in 1998. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Illustrated
Here’s a look at the top five drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings and five others to watch in Sunday’s Shelby American. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past five races at the track.
1. Kevin Harvick, 92.2 driver rating. Harvick’s record is nothing special at Las Vegas: No wins and three top-10s in nine starts. But based on his performances at Daytona and Fontana, a third top-five wouldn’t be a surprise.
2. Clint Bowyer, 68.6. Bowyer finished second last year for his first top-10 in four starts. The Richard Childress Racing Chevys are hot, hot, hot right now. If Harvick, Bowyer and Jeff Burton finish in the top 10 for the second consecutive week, look out.
3. Greg Biffle, 103.9. Roush Fenway Racing has won six of the 12 Cup races at Las Vegas, but Biffle doesn’t have one of those wins. He does have four top-10s in six starts, including finishing seventh last year.
4. Jamie McMurray, 76.7. McMurray finished ninth last year for his third top-10 in seven starts. One interesting stat: Of the 19 drivers who have started the past five races at Vegas, only two drivers have posted fewer fastest laps than McMurray’s eight. Perhaps the powerful Earnhardt-Childress engines will make a difference for Jamie Mac.
5. Jeff Burton, 98.5. Burton has two wins among his eight top-10s in 12 starts, and his 9.8 average finish is his best average finish of the 24 tracks he has competed on since his first Cup race in 1993. Burton led 61 laps last year and finished third.
Others to watch at Las Vegas:
Mark Martin, 94.9. Martin holds the track record with nine top-10s in 12 starts. Last year, however, he finished 40th when his engine failed after 121 laps. His two DNFs (the other in 2003) have been for engine failures. He won the first Cup race at Vegas in 1998.
Matt Kenseth, 91.6. Kenseth has two of Roush’s wins at Vegas, but last year he finished last when his engine died after six laps. It signaled a radical change in his fortunes after he had won the first two races of the season. His 438 laps led are the track record.
Jimmie Johnson, 113.6. Johnson has the most wins, three, which came in 2005 through 2007. But since then he has finishes of 29th and 24th. Despite the poor finish in 2009—he spun five laps from the finish—Johnson led a race-high 92 laps.
Kyle Busch, 109.4. Busch won from the pole last year, giving himself a dream victory in his hometown. He has four top-10s in six starts and hasn’t finished worse than 11th since crashing and getting a DNF in his first start at Vegas in 2004, which also was his Cup debut.
Jeff Gordon, 111.5. Gordon has a win and five top-fives in 12 starts. He finished sixth last year for his sixth top-10. He also has two DNFs for crashes, including a wicked hit five laps from the finish in 2008 when he was running third.
