03/14/2025
RFK Advance | Las Vegas I
Las Vegas Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 16
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Format: 267 Laps, 400.5 miles, Stages: 80-85-102
TV: FS1
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 1:35 p.m. ET, Cup Practice (Prime, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 2:40 p.m. ET, Cup Qualifying (Prime, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Cup Race (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- Las Vegas hosts its annual spring race this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series embarks on the fifth points race of the 2025 campaign.
- There have been 14 different winners in 25 NASCAR Cup Series races at Las Vegas since the reconfiguration of the track.
- Las Vegas is a track where Jack Roush has had a bevy of success, including seven wins in the Cup Series alone, and 16 overall.
- Brad Keselowski is one of five drivers all-time with three-or-more wins at LVMS, joining Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson.
6 Team Info:
Driver: Brad Keselowski
Crew Chief: Jeremy Bullins
Partner: Castrol
17 Team Info:
Driver: Chris Buescher
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Smith’s / Dasani
60 Team Info:
Driver: Ryan Preece
Crew Chief: Derrick Finley
Partner: Consumer Cellular
Keselowski at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Starts: 23
Wins: 3 (2014, 2016, 2018)
Top-10s: 13
Poles: 2 (2013, 2017)
- Keselowski is a three-time winner at LVMS, one of 12 tracks he has multiple wins at on the circuit. Overall, he has a 12.7 average finish with 13 top-10s and nine finishes inside the top five in 23 starts.
- Last spring, he finished 13th after starting in the 25th He was caught up in an accident in the fall that resulted in a 36th-place result.
- Keselowski first won in Las Vegas in 2014 after starting from the second position and leading 53 laps. He followed that with wins two years apart in 2016 and 2018.
- The Michigan native has an average starting position of 12.8 with two poles (2013, 2017), and overall, he has nine top-10 qualifying efforts.
- Keselowski also has a win at Vegas in the Xfinity Series (2014) with four overall top-10s in 10 NXS starts. He also made one truck start back in 2005.
Buescher at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Starts: 16
Wins: —
Top-10s: 2
Poles: —
- Buescher makes his 17th Cup start at Las Vegas this weekend, where he carries an average finish of 18.1 with two top-10s (9th – 2020 & 10th – 2024).
- Most recently, Buescher finished 10th last fall after starting 22nd. He started 9th in this race a year ago, but an incident ended his day early.
- His best qualifying effort stands as the P5 starting spot in the 2023 fall race. Overall, he has a 21.0 average starting position.
- Buescher made two Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas and recorded a best finish of ninth (2014) in the No. 60 entry for Jack Roush.
Preece at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Starts: 10
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —
- Preece makes his 11th Cup start at Las Vegas this weekend, where he holds an average finish of 24.5. He finished 23rd in the spring race a year ago.
- The Connecticut native’s best qualifying effort is a P16 starting spot in the fall race in 2019. Overall, he has a 25.5 average starting position.
RFK Historically at Las Vegas
Cup Wins: 7 (Mark Martin, 1998; Jeff Burton, 1999, 2000; Matt Kenseth, 2003, 2004; Carl Edwards, 2008, 2011)
- Early JACKpot: RFK hit the Vegas jackpot right off the bat, winning the inaugural Cup event at Las Vegas in 1998. Mark Martin led 82 laps in the victory that served as a banner day for RFK.
- Inaugural Sweep: RFK placed all five of its Cup entries inside the top 10 of that inaugural Las Vegas Cup race in 1998, including three inside the top five, four inside the top six, one in the winners circle and the runner up (6 – 1st, 99 – 2nd, 26 – 4th, 16 – 6th and 97 – 10th).
- Continued Success: RFK won the first three Cup races at LVMS from ‘98-’00, with Jeff Burton winning back-to-back events in ’99 and ’00. RFK also took three of the first nine Xfinity Series events at LVMS.
- Victory Lane at Vegas: In addition to the first three Cup races at LVMS, RFK again found the winners’ circle in 2003 and 2004 at the 1.5-mile track with Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at the 2008 and 2011 events to give RFK seven Cup wins at Las Vegas with four different drivers.
- Back to Back at Vegas: RFK has won back-to-back Cup races at LVMS on two separate occasions in ’99-’00 and ’03-04’ and once in the Xfinity Series in ‘99 and ‘00.
- Across the Board at Vegas: All in all, RFK has tallied 16 total NASCAR wins, while turning 41,500+ laps in NASCAR action at LVMS for 62,000+ miles, while leading over 2,700 laps at the track in NASCAR’s top three divisions. At the same time the organization has finished inside the top-10 in nearly 50 percent of its 194 NASCAR starts at LVMS.
RFK Las Vegas Wins
1998 Martin Cup
1999 Burton Cup
2000 Burton Cup
2003 Kenseth Cup
2004 Kenseth Cup
2008 Edwards Cup
2011 Edwards Cup
1999 Martin NXS
2000 Burton NXS
2002 Burton NXS
2005 Martin NXS
2009 Biffle NXS
2012 Stenhouse NXS
1997 Ruttman NGOTS
1999 Biffle NGOTS
2007 Kvapil NGOTS
Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Phoenix: Buescher took home his fourth straight top-10 finish at Phoenix, as he grabbed a fifth-place result in the desert. Preece earned eight stage points after a strong run in stage one, and finished the race in 15th. Keselowski was involved in an accident on lap 99 that ended his day early.
Points Standings (17: 10th, 60: 24th, 6: 33rd): Buescher cracked the top-10 in points, while Preece used stage points to jump up six spots. An early accident ended Keselowski’s day early as he drops to 33rd in points.
