Background

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada outside the Las Vegas city limits and about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Qualifying results

Second practice

Chase Elliott was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.197 seconds and a speed of 191.510 mph (308.205 km/h).^[14]

Final practice

Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.630 seconds and a speed of 188.613 mph (303.543 km/h).^[15]

Stage 1

Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 3:48 p.m. He pulled away from Martin Truex Jr. in the opening laps, but Truex started reeling him back in around lap 12. The first caution of the race flew on lap 18 when Corey LaJoie slammed the wall in Turn 2. He went on to finish last.^[16] Truex exited pit road with the race lead.^[17]

The race restarted on lap 25. Keselowski, restarting on the outside lane, powered by Truex on the backstretch to take back the lead on the restart. Exiting the tri-oval, Kevin Harvick suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall, bringing out the second caution on lap 68.^[18] After leaving the infield care center, he said that the tire "started vibrating about four or five laps there before it blew out, and I was just trying to ride it to the end of the stage there. Obviously, it didn’t make it.”^[19] Joey Logano opted not to pit and took the lead.^[17]

The race restarted on lap 75. Truex, on four new tires, passed Logano with ease on the backstretch to retake the lead. He won the first stage and the third caution flew for the conclusion of the stage. Truex decided to stay out, having pitted under the previous caution.^[17]

Stage 2

The race restarted on lap 88. It settled into a green run that was interrupted by a cycle of green flag stops beginning on lap 125. Truex pitted from the lead the following lap. Keselowski pitted from the lead the next lap. Ty Dillon pitted from the lead on lap 129 and handed the lead to Michael McDowell. Truex passed McDowell in Turn 1 to cycle back to the lead on lap 131. Kyle Busch was handed a pass through penalty for speeding on pit road.^[17]

The fourth caution flew on lap 152 when Derrike Cope spun out in Turn 2. Jimmie Johnson inherited the lead after electing not to pit.^[17]

The race restarted on lap 156. Truex, on four new tires, passed Johnson with ease exiting Turn 2 on the restart to retake the lead. He won the second stage and the fifth caution flew for the conclusion of the stage.^[17]

Final stage

The race restarted with 100 laps to go. Kurt Busch made an unscheduled stop with 66 to go to make a battery change. Truex pitted with 57 to go and Johnson took the lead. He stayed out for 17 laps hoping for a caution, but didn't get one, pitted with 40 to go and Truex regained the lead. Keselowski passed Chase Elliott for second with 34 to go and set his sights on Truex. He passed Truex in Turn 3 to retake the lead with 23 to go. The sixth caution flew with 16 to go when Danica Patrick's engine expired on the frontstretch.^[20] She said her team "got the car to a place where I [thought] we could have got a little more racy with it, especially if we would have caught some breaks, but then it just flattened out. I just rode around the top in case I blew up, but having a teammate behind me was not ideal for the timing of it, but unfortunately it happened. We'll just move on.”^[21] The leaders all pitted under the caution and Keselowski remained the leader.^[17]

The race restarted with nine to go. Keselowski pulled away on the restart and had the win in check, but suffered a part failure with two to go and dropped off pace.^[22] Truex passed him on the backstretch and scored the victory.^[23]

Post-race

Race results

Final stage results

Stage 3 Laps: 107

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 6 among different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 6 for 34
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 56 minutes and 39 seconds
• Average speed: 136.032 miles per hour (218.922 km/h)

Television

Fox Sports covered their 17th race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mike Joy, 2001 race winner Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties for the television side.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards worked pit road for the radio side.