Byron was the class of the field all day, leading 175 laps, but appeared to have faded late. Thanks to a late restart, though, he was able to pass Martin Truex, Jr. for the lead and held on for his fifth career Cup win.
Only Josh Berry, filling in for the injured Chase Elliott, missed out on a podium among the Hendrick drivers as he finished 29th in his substitute role. It’s reasonable to believe Elliott would have run right at the front with his teammates.
More broadly, Chevrolet across the board owned the weekend. Kyle Busch won the Truck Series race Friday night (his race team Kyle Busch Motorsports’ first victory since switching to Chevy) and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill took home Saturday’s Xfinity race.
Speaking of the Xfinity Series, rookie Chandler Smith was a surprise as he won the pole position and led 118 of 200 laps en route to a third place finish. Smith led with two laps to go before being passed by Hill and Justin Allgaier, and appears poised to contend for many more opportunities for victory.
Back on the Cup side, Corey LaJoie continued his strong start to the year with his third top-20 finish in three races. With a replacement yet to be announced for the remaining races that Chase Elliott will miss, could LaJoie be a dark horse for an audition in the #9 car? His team, Spire Motorsports, does have a technical alliance with Hendrick.
Additionally, Daniel Suarez, along with a pair of teammates in Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher, all have exceeded expectations as they remain solidly in playoff positions in the standings. Suarez has finished in the top 10 in all three races this year.
THE BAD:
Ty Gibbs was the surprise of Saturday’s qualifying session, as he started a career-best fourth on the grid. But he fell back quickly and finished an uncompetitive 22nd.
Meanwhile, fellow Cup rookie and Las Vegas native Noah Gragson had an even worse day, as multiple pit road penalties dropped him to a dismal 30th at his home track.
In the Xfinity Series, Brandon Jones’ rough start to the year continued as a speeding penalty caused him to finish 21st. Jones is 19th in points after three race with his new team, JR Motorsports, and his best result thus far is 14th.
Finally, the Truck Series as a whole continues to struggle staying green. After a Daytona race in which the longest run of racing was 11 laps, Vegas only saw one stretch of double digit circuits without a caution prior to the race-ending 69-lap run.
THE UGLY (Stewart-Haas Racing):
Sunday’s exciting late restart was the product of a late crash involving Aric Almirola. Almirola was originally supposed to retire after last year before changing his mind and re-signing, but aside from a Daytona qualifying race win in February, it hasn’t been worth it so far as he’s fallen to 21st in points.
Then there’s his teammate Ryan Preece, who replaced Cole Custer in the #41 and turned heads during the preseason L.A. Clash, where he led the most laps. But he’s now crashed out of all three points races this year and is 31st in the standings.
Most disappointing of all, though, is Chase Briscoe, who last season got his first career win and made the Round of Eight in the playoffs. This year, however, he’s yet to finish better than 20th and is 32nd in points. If he can’t get things turned around next week at Phoenix, the site of said win, it may be cause for concern.
Only Kevin Harvick has performed up to expectations for SHR this year, and he’s retiring at the end of the season. Unless his teammates can pick up the pace or the team can hit on a replacement, a team that not long ago was one of NASCAR’s premier organizations may be mired in mediocrity.