#5 Three Toyota drivers make the top five
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Chevrolets may have dominated the regular season of the NASCAR Cup Series, but it appears that the Toyota camp is turning the tide. Not only is that evident by Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr’s earlier wins at Darlington and Richmond, but also by Hamlin’s dominant win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch finished third during Sunday’s race, and Martin Truex Jr rounded out the top five. There’s a lot of speed on Toyota’s side, especially on cookie-cutter tracks. That could be the difference at Phoenix Motor Speedway in November.
#4 Christian Eckes wins first Camping World Truck Series race
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Christian Eckes isn’t a big name yet, but he gained a lot of recognition after capitalizing on a late restart to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The victory was the first of the young man’s career, and while it doesn’t put him in the next round of the playoffs, it does raise his stock heading into next season. Furthermore, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, and Johnny Sauter finished behind the young rookie, giving Thor Motorsports the first 1-4 sweep in Truck Racing history.
“Man, this is big,” Eckes said after holding off his Thor Motor Sports teammates in the final laps of the Camping World Truck Series. “It’s been a tough year… Hopefully, I proved I can still do this.”
#3 Josh Berry wins second race of the season as fill in for Justin Allgiaer
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Josh Berry was asked to sub for an injured Michael Annett this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which resulted in him winning his second Xfinity Series race of the season. Although expectations were high that Berry would get a decent finish at Vegas, no one could have imagined him pulling ahead of the field in the final laps and winning the race. He even ended up costing teammate Justin Allgaier a spot in the next round of the playoffs by beating him to the line to win the race.
Oh my gosh, that thing was so fast; it just took me a while to figure out, Berry said.
#2 Joey Gase gets taken to the hospital after wild ride
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Joey Gase took a wild ride during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and had to be transported to a local hospital as a result. The incident occurred on lap 92, where Gase’s Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet spun around violently, causing the car to lose a rear tire before colliding with the wall. The camera shows that Gase went airborne on impact. Gase was able to get out of the car and climb into the ambulance, but it was still a scary hit.
Keep in mind that accidents like this are relatively rare in stock car auto racing. The last terrible incident was in 2015 when Kyle Busch hit the interior wall at Daytona International Speedway so hard he broke his legs.
#1 Denny Hamlin holds off Chasee Elliott for a spot in the round of Eight
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What better way to cap off a NASCAR race weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway than watching Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott battle for the lead in the closing laps of the race? While Elliott kept charging and gaining ground on Hamlin, even getting close to his bumper, he could never catch up to the JGR driver. This gave Hamlin his second win of the season and a guaranteed spot in the final eight later this month.
“It feels so good to win in Vegas, last couple times I’ve been so close but just didn’t have the right breaks,” said Hamlin. “I m so happy to not have to worry about the next two weeks, but I am a professional and I will work just as hard each and every week to win.”
