Though a caution came out on the final lap of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube, leader Joey Logano had already seen the white flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series’ race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Logano won this race last season, too. Both times sporting a Pennzoil paint scheme on his No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
Matt DiBenedetto finished second. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was then third, followed by Austin Dillon and Jimmie Johnson to round out the top five.
There was a late-race restart on Lap 262 of 267. Then-leaders Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman chose to pit, while Logano stayed out to take over the No. 1 spot. The field went green with two laps to go. Stenhouse gave Logano a push, and the 2018 champion held on until the end. Blaney came in 11th. Bowman was 13th.
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE GO FAST
For the second week in a row nobody had the foresight to be able to select the race winner, Joey Logano. So this award will go “back into the closet” till next weekend!
THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS
The Las Vegas race saw the players in the fantasy league have a ver good race. Nobody was “skunked out”. Everyone had a respectable Sunday afternoon. And I may add from photographer’s standpoint, that the race itself was exciting with a variety of strategies deployed throughout the race.
The single biggest scorer for the Vegas race was the two ladies who were riding all race stowed away in the copilot’s seat of the Stewart-Haas Racing’s No. 4 Busch Light Ford driven by Kevin Harvick. Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head and Bernie The Bay Area Bandit gathered up 42 points from “Freaky Fast’s” strong race run and his 8th place finish.
Additionally, Carole, aka Rudy, had a very respectable Sunday afternoon as well. Rudy had very skillfully attached herself somewhere in the inside of “Young Money’s” hot rod so that she could experience, first hand, what is was like to race 400 miles at Vegas. She was rewarded very nicely by Kyle Larson’s 9th place finish with 35 timely points!
The four amigos, Snoopy Dawn, Edie The Las Vegas Super Star, Jim, aka Chiefy, as well as Dan The Numbers Cruncher all were solidly in the corner of Martin Truex, Jr. this past weekend. These four troopers were steadfastly hoping that MTJ could deliver a the big prize for them at LVMS. Although he did not hoist the hardware Sunday, he did turn in solid performance for them, delivery a cool 34 points!
Meanwhile, Linda The Cookie Mom and Leon Your Most Humble Sheriff were partners in crime for the weekend. They were all in for “Brazenly Bad” Brad Keselowski. It wan’t a win for “Bad Brad”, but his 7th place deposited a respectable 30 points for both The Cookie Mom and The Sheriff Sunday.
Rounding out the top five scorers this week is Carlton The Doorman. The Doorman was fully supporting Clint Bowyer Sunday. And although Bowyer ran up front most of the afternoon, he slipped a little in the closing stage of the race. Bowyer wound up coming home in 12th place, giving The Doorman 25 points.
One third, four players, of the fantasy league held steadfastly to their previous positions, but the other two thirds took a small trip on the leaderboard to a different position. The single biggest mover this week was Carlton the Doorman dropping three (3) spots to rest in 5th place.
Amber The Extremely Lucky Cheddar Head, Bernie The Bay Area Bandit, and Jeremy The Coach all moved two (2) places after the checkered flag flew on Sunday. Both The Bandit and The Cheddar Head climbed up two places to rest in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. While The Coach took one for the team and descended two (2) places to now rest in 10th place. It would appear that he, The Coach, is making his run for The Outhouse very early in this segment!
Meanwhile Jim, aka Chiefy and Dan The Numbers Dude, each stepped up one position this week to reside in 8th and 9th, respectively.
STRAIGHT FROM THE CRAPPER
This was one of those weeks where every player had a respectable race. Unfortunately, the player who had the lowest score, and therefore receives The Crappiest Pick of The Week, is Jeremy The Coach with 23 points! Normally that is a decent and safe tally to have for the week, however, this week it really sucks!
Even though Edie The Las Vegas Super Star had a very good day at Vegas, and what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, it was not good enough to rescue her from The Outhouse. Once again as the checkered flag waved and The Vegas Super Star languishes still in The Outhouse.
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR BELTS TIGHT AND LET’S GO RACIN’!