Before faltering late at Atlanta, Kevin Harvick was virtually untouchable. Expect the 2014 series champion to be extra motivated to close the deal at Las Vegas, where he went to Victory Lane back in 2015. Riding high on the heels of a come-from-behind victory at Atlanta, Brad Keselowski returns to Las Vegas a winner in two of his last three trips to Sin City. Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with four premier series wins at Vegas. None of those wins has come since 2010, however, when the Hendrick Motorsports driver last triumphed at the 1.5-mile track. A Las Vegas native, Kyle…

By Jared Turner Kahne, Larson and Elliott Are The Real Deal Three drivers who combined for a total of one win in 2016 have been particularly fast out of the gate in 2017. Those drivers are Hendrick Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott. All three were in contention to win the Daytona 500 in the final laps, with Elliott and Larson running out of gas and Kahne coming home seventh. Then on Sunday in Atlanta, all three finished in the top 10 as Larson (second) led the way over Kahne (fourth) and Elliott (fifth). Considering the…

By Jared Turner Kevin Harvick earned the nickname “The Closer” several years ago for his ability to turn up the wick at end of races, often coming out of nowhere to score the win. But in the past couple of years, Harvick on numerous occasions has had by far the fastest car in the field but been unable to get to Victory Lane whether it be due to a pit-road miscue, lack of speed at the end of the race or just plain old rotten luck. A familiar situation unfolded on Sunday when Harvick — whose No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford was…

By Keith Waltz NASCAR has a new policy concerning vehicles damaged during events in the sanctioning body’s three national touring series – the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR XFINITY Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The policy eliminates the practice of wrecked cars limping around the race track after lengthy repairs in the garage area. Now, cars and trucks damaged in accidents must be repaired on pit road within five minutes and then must be able to maintain the race’s minimum speed. Cars that are towed to the garage area or those that are unable to be repaired…