LAS VEGAS — Kyle Larson was victorious in the NASCAR Cup Series race in Las Vegas on Sunday after a duel with Tyler Reddick in the closing laps.
Larson swept all three stages en route to his second straight win at the 1.5-mile track. The Hendrick Motorsports driver beat out Reddick by just a few car lengths and had to decisively block him from taking the lead
"I knew Tyler was going to be the guy to beat," Larson said. "Thankfully, I was able to air-block him a couple laps and get him tight."
Larson led 181 of the race's 267 laps and was far end away the best car in the field on Sunday. Reddick made a late push to the front after the race's final restart and nearly took the win.
With just a few laps left in the race, Reddick made a move to the outside that nearly turned into a pass until Larson shut the door
"Kyle did a good job of taking away every option I had to close the gap," Reddick said. "Every time l got close... he defended well."
After the unpredictable speedways of Daytona and Atlanta, a lot of teams saw Las Vegas as the first real test to show what they have for this season. The intermediate track was sure to be void of any odd issues or massive crashes, unlike the first two races.
That was until lap 28 when Chris Buescher lost a tire and slammed into the turn 1 wall. Buescher's impact damaged the safer barrier and caused a 10-minute red flag delay as crews repaired the damage.
Daniel Suárez, the winner of last week's race at Atlanta, used pit strategy to put himself in the front of the field when the race resumed. He was later shuffled back as Larson and Kyle Busch took command of the race.
The only other cautions were called for Christopher Bell spinning, Corey LaJoie hitting the wall and spinning, and stage breaks.
Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five.
William Byron rebounded to finish 10th after a large trash bag got caught on the grill of his car, forcing him to pit under green to remove it.
Penalties and pit road problems ruined promising days for Busch, Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, and Carson Hocevar. Gibbs even went from a top-five spot to the back of the field after a bad pit stop midway through the race.
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action on Sunday, March 10 at Phoenix Raceway. William Byron is the defending winner.