I have heard that Las Vegas is a wild place, but I didn’t realize the weather was wild. As the third race of the Sprint Cup Season prepared to get under way, the track was wet from rain, and it was so windy that teams could barely get their car covers off. One of Martin Truex Junior’s crew members was knocked off his feet by a flying car cover. Then, after the race began, the Sun began to shine on the track. Just past the half-way point, a sandstorm passed through the track. And by the finish, the Sun was once again shining. Weird day.

Kurt Busch started on the pole for the second week in a row, and he spent several laps there. However, on the planned competition caution on lap 30, Kurt was caught speeding on pit road. As a result, Denny Hamlin, who took two tires instead of four, was now the race leader. However, the two tires he had couldn’t keep him in the lead for long.

For the next 150 laps, not much happened on the track. Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, and others took turns leading, but nothing major happened, other than several drivers being caught speeding on pit road. A caution on lap 190 for a wrecking Kyle Larson was extended due to a sand storm hitting the track. Oddly enough, Nascar restarted the race despite the fact that sand was all over the place.

On the restart, hometown hero Kyle Busch made one of the most impressive move of his career. Restarting 6th, he jumped to the outside lane, and drove around Austin Dillon and Jimmie Johnson, who were in 3rd and 4th. He then dropped low on the track, and blew past Penske racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keslowski.

Just after Busch completed his pass, Teammate Matt Kenseth got loose while racing mid-pack, and spun up the track. Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch spun trying to avoid Kenseth, and rookie Chase Elliot, who had been running well, had nowhere to go but straight into the back of Kenseth.

After the restart following this wreck, Kyle Busch pulled away, and opened a sizable distance between himself and the Penske teammates. All of the leaders were good to go to the finish as far as tires and fuel went, so it seemed that Kyle was going to win his second race at his home track.

However, as the laps wound down, it became apparent that something was wrong in Kyle’s car. He had been well ahead of the Penske teammates, but they were now closing. As it turned out, one of his tires was having problems. However, Brad and Joey seemed to busy fighting one another to pay enough attention to catch Kyle.

However, Brad, who was the fastest of the two, managed to pass Joey, and set his sights on Busch. With six laps to go, Keslowski caught up to Kyle, and passed him for the lead. No one was close enough to catch Brad, and Keslowski won his first race since last Spring.

I’m not sure if my readers can tell, but I am not a Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, or Brad Keslowski fan. Thus, as you can imagine, the start of this season has been very frustrating for me. But, it is what it is. I just live in hope that Joey never wins a championship, and Brad never wins another championship. As for Jimmie and Denny, I can tolerate a championship win on their part.