NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Top Story News Schedule Race Update/Results Statistics Point Standings Starting Grid Race Preview Driver Info Team Info Track Info Season Chart All-Time Wins Odds Weather NASCAR - Sprint Cup - Kobalt Tools 400 Preview From The Sports Network   DATE: Sunday, March 6th SITE: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1996) -- Las Vegas, Nevada TRACK: 1.5-mile oval - 2,275 feet (Frontstretch); 1,572 feet (Backstretch) CAPACITY: 142,000 (Grandstand Seating) ANNUAL: 14th TELEVISION: FOX ANNOUNCERS: Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds RADIO: Performance Racing Network (PRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio START TIME: 3:14 p.m. (et) DEFENDING CHAMPION: Jimmie Johnson RUNNER-UP: Kevin Harvick POLE WINNER: Kurt Busch (Finished 35th) LAPS: 267 MILES: 400.5 QUALIFYING RECORD: Kurt Busch, 2010 (188.719 m.p.h.) RACE RECORD: Mark Martin, 1998 (146.554 m.p.h.) TOTAL PURSE: $6,304,875 (2010 figures) PAYOUTS: 1st Place - $405,628; 2nd Place - $287,826; 3rd Place - $249,851 2010 Finish Finish Driver Start Finish Driver Start 1 Jimmie Johnson 20 6 Joey Logano 6 2 Kevin Harvick 34 7 Tony Stewart 9 3 Jeff Gordon 2 8 Clint Bowyer 13 4 Mark Martin 8 9 Kasey Kahne 19 5 Matt Kenseth 11 10 Greg Biffle 7 2010 Kobalt Tools 400 Facts and Figures AVERAGE SPEED: 141.450 m.p.h. TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 49 minutes, 53 seconds MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.874 seconds CAUTION FLAGS: 7 for 29 laps LEAD CHANGES: 18 among 9 drivers POLE WINNER: Kurt Busch (188.719 m.p.h.) Past Kobalt Tools 400 Winners (Starting Position) Car -- Speed 2010 -- Jimmie Johnson (20th) -- Chevrolet -- 141.450 m.p.h. 2009 -- Kyle Busch (1st) -- Toyota -- 119.513 m.p.h. 2008 -- Carl Edwards (2nd) -- Ford -- 127.729 m.p.h. 2007 -- Jimmie Johnson (23rd) -- Chevrolet -- 128.183 m.p.h. 2006 -- Jimmie Johnson (3rd) -- Chevrolet -- 133.358 m.p.h. 2005 -- Jimmie Johnson (9th) -- Chevrolet -- 121.038 m.p.h. 2004 -- Matt Kenseth (25th) -- Ford -- 128.790 m.p.h. 2003 -- Matt Kenseth (17th) -- Ford -- 132.934 m.p.h. 2002 -- Sterling Marlin () -- Dodge -- 136.747 m.p.h. 2001 -- Jeff Gordon (24th) -- Chevrolet -- 136.377 m.p.h. 2000 -- Jeff Burton (11th) -- Ford -- 119.982 m.p.h. 1999 -- Jeff Burton (19th) -- Ford -- 137.537 m.p.h. 1998 -- Mark Martin (7th) -- Ford -- 146.554 m.p.h. (race record) NOTE: Formerly called Las Vegas 400 (1998-1999), Carsdirect.com 400 (2000), UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 (2001-07), UAW-Dodge 400 (2008), Shelby 427 (2009), Shelby American (2010). Past Kobalt Tools 400 Pole Winners (Finish) 2010 -- Kurt Busch -- 35th 2009 -- Kyle Busch -- 1st 2008 -- Kyle Busch -- 11th 2007 -- Kasey Kahne -- 35th 2006 -- Greg Biffle -- 8th 2005 -- Ryan Newman -- 9th 2004 -- Kasey Kahne -- 2nd 2003 -- Bobby Labonte -- 4th 2002 -- Todd Bodine -- 29th 2001 -- Dale Jarrett -- 2nd 2000 -- Ricky Rudd -- 12th 1999 -- Bobby Labonte -- 5th 1998 -- Dale Jarrett -- 40th Last Race Results RACE: Subway Fresh Fit 500 (February 27th) SITE: Phoenix International Raceway -- Avondale, Arizona MILES: 312 (500 kilometers) LAPS: 312 WINNER: Jeff Gordon RUNNER-UP: Kyle Busch THIRD: Jimmie Johnson FOURTH: Kevin Harvick FIFTH: Ryan Newman POLE WINNER: Carl Edwards (Finished 28th) TIME OF RACE: 3 hours, 1 minute, 49 seconds AVERAGE SPEED: 102.961 m.p.h. MARGIN OF VICTORY: 1.137 seconds CAUTION FLAGS: 8 for 43 laps LEAD CHANGES: 28 among 12 drivers LAP LEADERS: C. Edwards - pole; Kurt Busch 1-5; Kyle Busch 6-15; C. Edwards 16-22; Kurt Busch 23-31; D. Hamlin 32-35; A. Lally 36; M. McDowell 37; C. Edwards 38-51; Kurt Busch 52-68; D. Hamlin 69-73; R. Newman 74-76; J. Gordon 77-87; R. Newman 88-91; T. Stewart 92-123; J. Gordon 124-128; T. Stewart 129-140; J. Gordon 141-173; T. Stewart 174-182; J. Johnson 183-189; J. Gordon 190-191; M. Kenseth 192-193; J. Johnson 194-204; J. Gordon 205-282; K. Harvick 283; J. Johnson 284; T. Stewart 285-290; Kyle Busch 291-303; J. Gordon 304-312. Kobalt Tools 400 Entry List Car Driver, Hometown Car/Name 00 David Reutimann (Zephyrhills, FL) Toyota/Tums 1 Jamie McMurray (Joplin, MO) Chevrolet/McDonald's 2 Brad Keselowski (Rochester Hills, MI) Dodge/Miller Lite 4 Kasey Kahne (Enumclaw, WA) Toyota/Red Bull 5 Mark Martin (Batesville, AR) Chevrolet/GoDaddy.com 6 David Ragan (Unadilla, GA) Ford/UPS 7 Robby Gordon (Orange, CA) Dodge/Speed Energy 09 Bill Elliott (Dawsonville, GA) Chevrolet/Phoenix Construction 9 Marcos Ambrose (Launceston, Australia) Ford/Stanley 11 Denny Hamlin (Chesterfield, VA) Toyota/FedEx Ground 13 Casey Mears (Bakersfield, CA) Toyota/GEICO 14 Tony Stewart (Columbus, IN) Chevrolet/Mobil 1 16 Greg Biffle (Vancouver, WA) Ford/Post It 17 Matt Kenseth (Cambridge, WI) Ford/Crown Royal 18 Kyle Busch (Las Vegas, NV) Toyota/Snickers 20 Joey Logano (Middletown, CT) Toyota/Home Depot 21 Trevor Bayne (Knoxville, TN) Ford/Motorcraft/Quick Lane 22 Kurt Busch (Las Vegas, NV) Dodge/Shell/Pennzoil 24 Jeff Gordon (Vallejo, CA) Chevrolet/DuPont 27 Paul Menard (Eau Claire, WI) Chevrolet/Menards/Moen 29 Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield, CA) Chevrolet/Budweiser 31 Jeff Burton (South Boston, VA) Chevrolet/Caterpillar 32 Terry Labonte (Corpus Christi, TX) Ford/TBA 33 Clint Bowyer (Emporia, KS) Chevrolet/Wheaties Fuel 34 David Gilliland (Riverside, CA) Ford/Taco Bell 36 Dave Blaney (Hartford, OH) Chevrolet/Tommy Baldwin Racing 37 Tony Raines (LaPorte, IN) Ford/TBA 38 Travis Kvapil (Janesville, WI) Ford/Long John Silver's 39 Ryan Newman (South Bend, IN) Chevrolet/Haas Automation 42 Juan Pablo Montoya (Bogota, Colombia) Chevrolet/Target 43 A.J. Allmendinger (Los Gatos, CA) Ford/Clorox 46 J.J. Yeley (Phoenix, AZ) Chevrolet/Red Line Oil 47 Bobby Labonte (Corpus Christi, TX) Toyota/Kingsford 48 * Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon, CA) Chevrolet/Lowe's/Kobalt Tools 56 Martin Truex Jr. (Mayetta, NJ) Toyota/NAPA 60 Landon Cassill (Cedar Rapids, IA) Toyota/Big Red 66 Michael McDowell (Glendale, AZ) Toyota/HP Racing LLC 71 Andy Lally (Northport, NY) Chevrolet/Eco-Fuel Saver 78 Regan Smith (Cato, NY) Chevrolet/Furniture Row Racing 83 Brian Vickers (Thomasville, NC) Toyota/Red Bull 87 Joe Nemechek (Lakeland, FL) Toyota/NEMCO Motorsports 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Kannapolis, NC) Chevrolet/Amp Energy/Nat'l Guard 92 Brian Keselowski (Rochester Hills, MI) Dodge/K-Automotive Motorsports 99 Carl Edwards (Columbia, MO) Ford/Scott's/Kellogg's * - Defending champion Leading Contenders (Finish the last nine years) Driver 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Jimmie Johnson 6th 11th 16th Won Won Won 29th 24th Won Kevin Harvick 25th 13th 21st 5th 11th 27th 4th 12th 2nd Jeff Gordon 17th 37th 15th 4th 5th 2nd 35th 6th 3rd Mark Martin 3rd 43rd 5th 30th 6th 5th 10th 40th 4th Matt Kenseth 14th Won Won 8th 2nd 4th 20th 43rd 5th Joey Logano --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 13th 6th Tony Stewart 5th 5th 3rd 10th 21st 7th 43rd 26th 7th Clint Bowyer --- --- --- --- 15th 36th 28th 2nd 8th Kasey Kahne --- --- 2nd 38th 4th 35th 6th 11th 9th Greg Biffle --- --- 40th 6th 8th 16th 3rd 7th 10th Jeff Burton 9th 6th 13th 17th 7th 15th 5th 3rd 11th Carl Edwards --- --- --- 14th 26th 6th Won 17th 12th David Reutimann --- --- --- --- --- --- 37th 4th 13th Kyle Busch --- --- 41st 2nd 3rd 9th 11th Won 15th Dale Earnhardt Jr 16th 2nd 35th 42nd 27th 11th 2nd 10th 16th Paul Menard --- --- --- --- --- 32nd 22nd 35th 17th Ryan Newman 4th 7th 27th 9th 43rd 8th 14th 25th 18th Denny Hamlin --- --- --- --- 10th 3rd 9th 22nd 19th Martin Truex Jr --- --- --- --- --- 12th 15th 32nd 20th Brad Keselowski --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 38th 26th Brian Vickers --- --- 23rd 43rd 22nd --- 24th 8th 31st Jamie McMurray --- 32nd 4th 15th 23rd 10th 25th 9th 34th Kurt Busch 20th 38th 9th 3rd 16th 26th 38th 23rd 35th Juan Pablo Montoya --- --- --- --- --- 22nd 19th 31st 37th Mover of the Week Jimmie Johnson - Started 28th on the grid and finished 3rd Sports Network Selections Pick to Win - Matt Kenseth Darkhorse - Kasey Kahne Last Week's Pick to Win (Jeff Gordon) - Finished 1st Last Week's Darkhorse (David Ragan) - Finished 36th NOTES: After snapping a 66-race winless drought last Sunday at Phoenix, Jeff Gordon's thirst for victory continues this weekend when the Sprint Cup Series runs at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gordon passed Kyle Busch for the lead with nine laps remaining and then held off Busch by just over one second for his first win since April 2009 at Texas. The victory was not only a relief for Gordon, but also his No.24 team, with new crew chief Alan Gustafson. His 83rd career win placed him in a tie with Cale Yarborough for fifth on the series' all-time race winners list. He's now one victory away from tying Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for third. Richard Petty holds the record for most wins in NASCAR's top division with 200, followed by David Pearson with 105. This race has a history of multiple winners, as Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton have repeated as champions in Las Vegas. Johnson won three consecutive races (2005-07) and added a fourth title last year, while Kenseth (2003-04) and Burton (1999-2000) won back-to-back titles. Last season, Johnson cashed in with a late-race pit strategy to win his 49th career Sprint Cup title. In doing so, he also set a NASCAR record for most wins on a 1.5-mile track with 15. Gordon led a track-record 219 laps, but Gordon took on only two new tires during his final pit stop. After putting on four tires, Johnson quickly chased down his Hendrick Motorsports teammate after a restart with 34 laps to go. Johnson finally passed him for the lead with 17 laps remaining and then cruised to his second consecutive victory of the 2010 season. In 2009, Kyle Busch edged Clint Bowyer by less than a second for his 13th career Sprint Cup title. Busch, who's win total now stands at 19, started first on the grid and became the first pole sitter to capture this race. Johnson was the race lap leader with 92 laps led, but he faded to 24th. Busch overtook Bowyer on lap 269 and held on for a 0.411 of a seconds victory. Carl Edwards snapped Johnson's strangle-hold of this race in 2008, as he recorded his ninth career Sprint Cup title. Starting in the second position, Edwards reclaimed the lead on lap 238 and held on to edge Dale Earnhardt Jr by less than a second. Edwards led four times for a race-high 86 laps, while pole sitter Kyle Busch, who finished 11th, led three times for 56 laps. Two-time Vegas winner Matt Kenseth placed 20th after leading four times for 70 laps. Edwards' win total now stands at 18. In 2007, Johnson reclaimed the lead for the last time on lap 240 and held on to defeat Jeff Gordon by almost three seconds for his third straight win in Vegas. Johnson, who started 23rd on the grid, led four times for 89 laps, while Gordon, in the 36th starting spot, led for 111 laps. Pole sitter Kasey Kahne, who led for the first 13 laps, failed to finish the race due to an accident and placed 35th. The victory for Johnson was the 24th of his 53- win career. Las Vegas Motor Speedway has the distinction of being the first completely new superspeedway to be built in the southwest region of the United States in more than 20 years. The track features a 1.5-mile superspeedway, a 2.5-mile FIA- approved road course, a 4,000-foot drag strip, paved and dirt short tracks, motocross circuits, stadium truck racing facilities, go-kart and Legends cars layouts as well as a Junior Drag racing strip. The track was originally built as the Las Vegas Jockey Club horse track. Only three motorsports events were held at the mile-long dirt track before it was razed to make way for the Las Vegas Hilton: An IndyCar championship race in 1954, a USAC stock car race in 1959 and the NASCAR event of 1955. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway recently went under a complete renovation, as added banking and a major facelift to the infield were concluded. When Johnson won in 2006, he crossed the finish line .045 of a second ahead of Kenseth for his 20th career Sprint Cup title. Johnson led for only one lap in the race, but it was the last, as he won the second of his five 2006 titles. Pole sitter Greg Biffle finished eighth leading only six laps, while Kenseth was the lap leader with 146 laps led. Back in 2005, Johnson recorded his first win of that season, as he edged Kyle Busch by 1.661 seconds for his 15th Sprint Cup title. Johnson, who started in the ninth position, led for 107 of the 267 laps, including the final 55. In contrast to Johnson, Tony Stewart has not fared well in Sin City, posting an 0-12 Sprint Cup mark. Although he has seven top-10s, his best finish was second in 2000. Only five of the previous 13 races at LVMS have been won from a top-10 starting position, with the pole sitter winning just once (2009). For the first time since 1988, Kyle and Kurt Busch stand one-two in the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points list. The last time family members held the top two spots, was the father-son duo of Bobby and Davey Allison. No brothers have ever been 1-2 in the standings since the current points system went into effect in 1975. Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon have raced in all 13 previous Las Vegas races. Labonte is the only driver of the four that is winless. The Sprint Cup Series takes its first weekend break before running the March 20th Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jimmie Johnson is the defending race winner. 03/01 17:52:41 ET As of March 1, 2011, at 05:53 PM ET