NASCAR: Winners and losers from 2018 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas

The NASCAR Cup series went to Las Vegas to start a three-race western swing. Who is off to a good start? Who is in for a long week?

As NASCAR headed to the desert this past weekend, the cream of the drivers crop rose to the top. Many of the drivers who had had so-so starts through the first two weeks found their way to the front.

Let’s take a look at the winners and losers from the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Winners from Las Vegas

Kevin Harvick: The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion had his way with the rest of the field for the second straight week. After leading 181 laps at Atlanta last week, he paced the field for 214 of the 267 circuits at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Harvick goes on hot streaks like this, and he now has three wins and six top 5 finishes in the last seven races dating back to the Martinsville race last October.

Kyle Busch: After winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Friday night, Busch was really fast Sunday, as he put together a solid runner-up finish. He and his team put everything together on race day and his effort was more Kyle Busch-fashion.

Kyle Larson: Like Busch, Larson came into the race as a winner during the weekend after capturing the Xfinity Series win on Saturday. Larson started Sunday’s race fifth and finished third to inject some much-needed confidence heading to Phoenix.

Erik Jones: Driving his third race for Joe Gibbs Racing, Jones got a much-needed top 10 finish with his eighth place result.

Losers from Las Vegas

Clint Bowyer: Bowyer was unable to capitalize on his third place finish at Atlanta last week. At Las Vegas, he finished 18th and two laps down to his teammate Harvick. Now in his second year driving for Stewart-Haas Racing, he is still looking for consistent results.