Well, Las Vegas may not be the most interesting race, but it has habit of giving out some surprising finishes. I never know what to expect from this place, but when about the biggest variety of drivers possible are posting good lap times and starting near the front, you tend to expect something out of the ordinary.

Brad Keslowski won the pole for the race, and he was more than worthy. He thoroughly dominated segment one. It seemed like he was destined to destroy all comers, but a late segment one caution in the form of Kevin Harvick’s blown tire was a little unexpected. Segment points are valuable, and people were willing to gamble to get them. Joey Logano and Jamie McMurray both took the risk and either didn’t pit or took just two tires.

The restart was expected to be wild, but for Brad, it was a little too wild. He was shuffled behind Logano, and the result was that Martin Truex Jr. took the lead. Truex had been in striking distance of Keslowski all along, but he was fortunate enough to get the right kind of restart to get a jump on the field, and Truex won segment one.

Various drivers took different tire strategies, but Truex remained in the lead as segment two began. And he held it. Truex was at least Keslowski’s equal while out front, and Brad had traffic to deal with. Truex was pulling away to a surprising lead, but late cautions in segments have a way of occurring. And another happened just prior to the end of segment two. Two drivers stayed out this time, Jimmie Johnson the leader. However, old tires stood little chance against Truex and four fresh tires. Truex blew past Johnson, and won the second segment.

OF course, whenever Truex is dominating a race, everyone who watches Nascar consistently holds their breath as the final part of the race begins. Truex has a long list of misfortunes, and never has any good luck.

Truex was rather dominant as the segment went on, and few cautions flew. But, Truex was no longer alone. Keslowski had gradually caught up to Truex, and was now within striking distance. As the final 30 laps began, Brad and Martin began to fight for the lead. Truex drove as hard as possible, but when he went low, Brad went high. When Truex tried to go high and block Brad, Keslowki dipped low and was now side by side with Truex. Both drove their cars to the limit, but the end result was Keslowski with the lead. Brad was surprisingly faster than Truex once in clean air, and gradually began to pull away.

Remember what I said about late cautions? Yeah, well, there was another one with just 15 or so laps remaining. Everyone came for tires and fuel, Still, Brad seemed in command. The restart was pretty calm, and Keslowski easily pulled away from Truex and the pack. Truex seemed occupied with fighting to maintain second place, but he was good enough.

However, Vegas has surprises. Maybe not in the track itself, but it has some surprising finishes which keep coming. And something went wrong for Brad. He would later claim something broke in the right front area of his car, but with less than five laps remaining, Brad suddenly slowed significantly.

And guess who was (gasp) lucky, enough to be behind him? Martin Truex Jr. Truex blew past the helpless Brad with less than three laps remaining, and drove untouched to victory. For the first time, lady luck favored the Truex. It was his first victory of the year, and Truex became the first driver to win all three segments of a race. I’m suddenly feeling pretty good about picking him as my champion. Oh, and by the way, the three best drivers thus far this year are my other championship four picks, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliot, and Kevin Harvick. Man, I’m good. Kidding. But seriously, Larson and Elliot were second and third behind Truex.

Ironically, Truex’s good fortune wasn’t the biggest story of the day. As drivers scrambled for every position possible, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano battled for the 4th position. In the final corner, Busch went high while Logano went low. Busch appeared to have the advantage, but Logano went up the track and hit Busch sending him spinning. The result was fourth for Logano, and 22nd for Busch.

After the race, Busch attempted to confront Logano about the incident, but crew members tried to block him. Evidently they forgot who they were dealing wit. Busch dove at Logano, and grabbed hold of him as he was dragged to the ground. The ensuing scuffle was hard to visually distinguish, but the result was a pile of crew member and Kyle Busch on the ground. After the fight, Busch, bloodied from a cut on his forehead, was very short with interviewers, stating that Logano drove like he does, dumped him, and that he was gonna get it. Logano did his usual stupid grin and stated the contact was unintentional. People can debate how they like, but it’s pretty obvious that Logano could have avoided hitting Busch. For now, I’ll let Nascar decide how they want to deal with this, and just hope Busch teaches Logano the lesson he so constantly needs to learn. See you in Phoenix!