NASCAR Cup Series

Double down on Vegas? Larry Mac likes what he saw on Sunday

Published Mar. 9, 2015 2:45 p.m. ET

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Larry McReynolds

Obviously, Kevin Harvick had the winning hand Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That No. 4 bunch flat out dominated the race with Kevin leading 142 of 267 laps. The way that No. 4 car was running at the end of last year when they won the championship, and as strong as it's running this early in 2015, it won't be a big surprise to see them in Victory Lane many times again this year, maybe as early as this weekend in Phoenix.

I hated to see Jimmie Johnson have his issues Sunday. Additionally, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards got together which took them out of contention. I do think those three might have actually had something for Kevin, but we'll obviously never know. All in all I really enjoyed the race.

I really enjoyed anticipating the different strategies the teams were going to try there near the end of the race. I love this race track. I honestly don't think it will be too far in the future when we are visiting Las Vegas Motor Speedway twice a year. The weather was beautiful and the crowds all three days were fantastic. Honestly, Las Vegas Motor Speedway put more folks in the grandstands on Friday for practice and qualifying than some tracks have on Saturday for a race.

Sure we didn't have a photo-finish at the checkered flag, but what I came away with Sunday was we had a lot of good racing throughout the field. One of the really cool storylines that continues to evolve is a couple of these small single car teams that simply won't go away. I guess they didn't get the memo that they aren't supposed to be able to compete with the mega-teams.

Martin Truex Jr. sat there and ran in the top five almost all day Sunday. He brought his No. 78 Chevrolet home in a strong second-place finish. He's now up to fourth in the points.

AJ Allmendinger was the other one that had a great Las Vegas race with a sixth-place finish. Both of these teams have been solid at three completely different race tracks. If they can sustain this type of performance, I wouldn't be surprised to see one or both win a race plus make the Chase this year.  

VIDEO: Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway highlights

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