Las Vegas, this was Tony Stewart’s race to win, he pulls an air hose down pit road and falls to 23rd, comes back to the front with a two tire change and pulls out to a 4.5 second lead. Caution comes out with 66 to go and he has to take four tires while Carl Edwards takes two along with many others and Stewart had to fight through traffic and simply ran out of time.

Matt Kenseth, the pole sitter, cut a tire early in the race and fell a lap down but fought back to finish 11th. Those are the type of results that can lead to championships.

Kyle Busch, the point’s leader coming in to the race, lost an engine and finished 38th. It is early in the season for a race like this to ruin your season. Kyle Busch fell to 14th in the points and a couple more results similar to this one could call for an end to his championship hopes.

Storyline that we will remember: Carl Edwards and Crew make a two tire change to take the lead and eventually the win.

Storyline that we will forget: Tony Stewart giving the rest of the teams the idea to go with two tires when he had the car to beat.

Quote of the Week: "We had the fastest thing on the planet today and we just gave it away, It kills me to throw away a race like that."—Tony Stewart

Tweet of the Week: “More Knaus to JJ: "The 18 and the 24 are the only teams that have anything for us, 10-4?" JJ: 10-4” @MartySmithESPN – Jimmie Johnson finishes 3rd behind both Gordon and Busch.

Power Rankings
(Rankings will be based on who is running the best, with an emphasis on the last several races but having respect for the duration of the 36 race schedule. Last Week’s Rankings can be found in parenthesis.)
1. (1)Kurt Busch – Won 2 of 3 at Daytona, 3 Top 10 finishes.
2.  (4)Tony Stewart – Two top ten’s in a matter of weeks and tied for the points lead.
3. (8) Juan Pablo Montoya- Upfront most of the day finished third and is now tied for 3rd in points.
4. (7)Ryan Newman – Another Top 5 to join Edwards as the only drivers with two this year.
5. (NR)Denny Hamlin-Sitting 8th in points, climbing 6 spots this week and has made a huge turn around since people were writing him out of championship chances.
6. (3)A.J. Allmendinger – Tied for 3rd in Points after an average finish of 10th this season.
7.  (NR)Carl Edwards- Big win after Phoenix and the second at Daytona
8. (6)Mark Martin – In the Big One last week, Average finish of 13th.
9. (NR)Paul Menard-Finished 12th to climb to 6th in the Sprint Cup points.
10. (5)Jeff Gordon – Would make the Chase because of the wild card spots.
11. (2)Kyle Busch – Falls to 14th in points
12. (NR)Martin Truex Jr.- Anybody know where he is in the points? Truex is 7th and tops among all Toyota drivers.

Driver of the Week: Tony Stewart – Should have won but a team error in the pits cost him the win. Stewart Is tied in the points with Kurt Busch, so hopefully this race result does not affect Bristol.

Bad Decision of the Day: Tony Stewart and Daniel Grubb—two tires too early caused them to have to work through traffic after the last caution.

Stat of the Week- 91 points, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s point total that has him in theChase right now.

Stat of the Week II- 50 points, Jeff Burton’s points total that has him 30th in points with a less than stellar start to the season.

Send me your tweets @thomaseharris

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