03/01/2024
RFK Advance | Las Vegas I
Las Vegas Event Info:
Date: Sunday, March 3
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Format: 260 Laps, 400 miles, Stages: 80-85-102
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 2:05 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 2:50 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- Las Vegas hosts its annual spring race this weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series embarks on the third points race of the 2024 campaign, and first not on a Superspeedway.
- 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 coming off a strong top five at the track last fall, while Chris Buescher tallied one of his better finishes there in the last outing at LVMS.
6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: Solomon Plumbing
17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fastenal
Keselowski at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Starts: 21
Wins: 3 (2014, 2016, 2018)
Top-10s: 13
Poles: 2 (2013, 2017)
- Keselowski is a three-time winner at LVMS, one of 11 tracks he has multiple wins at on the circuit. Overall he has an 11.5 average finish with 13 top-10s and nine finishes inside the top five in 21 starts. Most recently he finished fourth last fall after leading 38 laps. Last spring he finished 17th after starting seventh – also leading five laps in that race.
- 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 12.0 with two poles (2013, 2017). Overall he has nine top-10 qualifying efforts, and is coming off a P7 starting spot last spring.
- 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: 14
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —
- Buescher makes his 15th Cup start at Las Vegas this weekend, where he carries an average finish of 17.3 with one top-10 (ninth – 2020).
- Most recently, Buescher finished 11th last fall after starting fifth. He finished 21st in this race a year ago.
- His best qualifying effort stands as the P5 starting spot last October. Overall he has a 21.8 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.
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 40,000+ laps in NASCAR action at LVMS for 61,000+ 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 190 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
Atlanta: Keselowski was in prime position late in Sunday’s race at Atlanta, but was collected in an incident and finished 33rd. Buescher overcame two separate incidents to finish ninth.
Points Standings (17: 15th, 6: 33rd): Buescher gained multiple spots following his top-10 in Atlanta.
By the Numbers at Las Vegas
Race Win T5 T10 Pole Laps Led AvSt AvFn Miles
106 7 22 42 1 26563 1318 17.8 15.3 39844.5
57 6 19 37 7 10683 1179 11.4 12.1 16024.5
27 3 7 11 1 3660 234 10.3 15.9 5490
190 16 48 90 9 40906 2731 14.4 14.2 61359
