Kyle Larson released from hospital after multi-day stay

Kyle Larson has been released from a Charlotte hospital he was flown to after fainting during an autograph session at Martinsville Raceway just outside of Martinsville, Virginia on Saturday, the day before he was to compete in the Sprint Cup Series race at the paperclip short track. Larson had first been taken to a hospital in Martinsville, and was then sent to the Charlotte hospital with the Chip Ganassi team still believing he would be back on Sunday to drive the #42 Chevrolet he qualified seventh in the 43-car field. Larson lives in the Charlotte area, as do many other drivers, as most top NASCAR teams are headquartered just north of the city. Larson was ultimately ordered more tests and had to spend at least one night in the hospital, meaning he had to sit out Martinsville. Chip Ganassi got Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Xfinity Series driver Regan Smith to drive the #42 car on Sunday. The Xfinity cars do not race at Martinsville, meaning Smith most likely had to come from Mooresville, North Carolina to sub for Larson at Martinsville. The cause of Larson's fainting and his treatment remains somewhat unclear.

Chevrolet to field the Malibu in Cup beginning in 2016?

Signs are pointing to Chevrolet switching to its Malibu sedan model from the current Chevrolet SS, a rebranded version of the international Holden Commodore, beginning with the 2016 Sprint Cup season. This would be the first major modification to the Gen-6 Chevrolet models in the series.

Denny Hamlin wins Martinsville Cup race

Denny Hamlin took the #11 Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing to victory at Martinsville in the 250-mile, 500-lap Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday after a fierce late-race battle with the #2 Ford of Brad Keselowski. It was Hamlin's fifth career Cup win at Martinsville, and the first win for a Toyota in Cup this year. Hamlin and his teammate Kyle Busch gave Toyota its only two Cup wins last year. Hamlin's win on Sunday was the manufacturer's first since Hamlin's Talladega win last May.

Sunday's race marked the Sprint Cup debut of defending Xfinity Series champion Chase Elliott, who was competing in the first of five races for the part-time fifth Hendrick Motorsports entry, the #25 Chevrolet, thanks to his position as a driver at the Hendrick-affiliated JR Motorsports. Elliott ran into trouble early, like many other drivers during the race, and spent nearly 70 laps behind the wall as his crew fixed front-end damage on his car. Elliott, who started 27th in the 43-car field, finished 38th and will next attempt the Saturday night race at Richmond next month.Two full-time Hendrick drivers, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., encountered problems of their own: Johnson's #48 Chevrolet couldn't keep up with the leaders despite his crew constantly making adjustments, and he was then caught speeding on pit road. Earnhardt suffered a broken shifter, which was hard to fix due to a vibration, and he was later caught up in a multi-car pileup that broke the radiator of his #88 Chevrolet and forced his crew to remove the crumpled front sheet metal. Other drivers involved in the pileup, which occurred off turn 2 just after a restart, were Paul Menard, David Ragan, Sam Hornish Jr., Casey Mears, Cole Whitt and Justin Allgaier.

The Roush Fenway Fords also got caught up in the mayhem. Trevor Bayne spun the #6 Ford to bring out the first caution on lap 12, and was then caught up in crashes on laps 286 and 367, the second of which also took out Greg Biffle. Regan Smith (substituting for Kyle Larson in the #42 Chevrolet after Larson's fainting incident on Saturday), Danica Patrick and outside polesitter Ryan Newman were involved in these incidents as well. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun his #17 Ford three separate times, and finally went to the garage after suffering considerable damage. Even polesitter Joey Logano got caught up in the lap 367 pileup but did not have much damage and recovered to finish third. The last two cautions came on lap 434 for Carl Edwards' spin in the #19 Toyota and a debris caution on lap 461. The ensuing restart had Matt Kenseth and eight-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon out front, but Tony Stewart soon got on the point, followed by Brad Keselowski and then Denny Hamlin.

There was a total of 16 cautions for 112 laps, more than a fifth of the race's total length, and five shy of the track record of 21 cautions. Martin Truex Jr. got his sixth straight top-ten finish, finishing sixth and was the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver. Kevin Harvick's streak of top-two finishes also came to an end as he finished eighth in the #4 Chevrolet.

All thee national series are off next week in observance of Easter. The Sprint Cup Series is headed to Fort Worth, Texas in two weeks for the first scheduled night race of the season for the series, a 500-miler on Saturday, April 11.

Race Results:

1. (15) 11-Denny Hamlin - Toyota - 500 laps, led 91 laps
2. (12) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 500 laps, led 18 laps
3. (1) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 500 laps, led 108 laps
4. (8) 20-Matt Kenseth - Toyota - 500 laps, led 11 laps
5. (20) 18-David Ragan - Toyota - 500 laps
6. (3) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 500 laps, led 23 laps
7. (16) 10-Danica Patrick - Chevrolet - 500 laps
8. (17) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 500 laps, led 154 laps
9. (4) 24-Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet - 500 laps, led 21 laps
10. (19) 1-Jamie McMurray - Chevrolet - 500 laps

Joey Logano wins Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville

Joey Logano won Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race in Martinsville, Virginia in his seventh series start, driving the #29 Ford owned by his Team Penske Sprint Cup teammate Brad Keselowski. Logano has now won in all three NASCAR national series - the truck series, Xfinity Series and the Sprint Cup Series. Second-place finisher Matt Crafton now leads by two points over Daytona winner Tyler Reddick, driving the #19 Ford, the other Keselowski entry, and by six points over Kyle Busch's driver Erik Jones, who also finished third in Saturday's race in the #4 Toyota.

Many drivers spun, a typical product of Martinsville racing. Reddick, Brandon Jones and rookie Ray Black Jr. each got around, as did Mason Mingus twice, the second time with Jake Griffin. John Hunter Nemechek, Bryan Silas, Travis Kvapil and some other drivers also had mechanical issues; Nemechek's transmission quit on him as he attempted to enter the garage through the opening on the backstretch and brought out a caution. Late in the race, there was a battle involving Logano, Crafton, Jones, and 17-year-old Cole Custer, winner at New Hampshire in September and serving as the driver in the very first Truck Series start for JR Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who got the rights to the Haas Automation #00 Chevrolet. Custer, who recovered from an earlier pit penalty, spun with two laps to go on the frontstretch after being bumped by Crafton, who was fighting for the lead with Custer. Custer couldn't getrefired and a caution came out to set up a green-white-checkered finish. Logano had lost a few positions before the caution, but got by Crafton and Jones on the restart to take the win from the pole.

Logano also starts Sunday's Sprint Cup race from the pole in the #22 Ford, alongside one-time Penske driver Ryan Newman. The truck series next races at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas on May 8, a Friday night.

Team Xtreme in serious legal trouble

One month ago, Sprint Cup Series team Team Xtreme found themselves the innocent victims of a car theft. The team's #44 Chevrolet, which was to be driven by Travis Kvapil at Atlanta, the second race of the season after the Daytona 500, was stolen along with their plain white trailer from a Hampton, Georgia hotel. The car was found dumped in a wooded area in Loganville, Georgia, some 50 miles away from the Atlanta track. While a search was ordered for persons of interest in the case, team owner John Cohen was soon facing his own legal troubles as he was issued an arrest warrant for charges stemming from a nightclub ownership fiasco that took place last summer in New York City, in which Cohen never paid the money or gave the ownership he promised to a number of clients. A civil settlement had been reached in August, but Cohen was found to have violated the terms of the settlement in January.

While the nightclub case soon vanished from the spotlight, the buzz was back on Team Xtreme at Martinsville on Friday morning for what was cited as a threat for rain (which soon became a reality as it postponed the Cup and truck practices and Cup qualifying). It was then revealed that the real reason the #44 team pulled out of Martinsville was because their employees hadn't been paid for two weeks straight due to apparent issues processing the team's paychecks at multiple banks. The team also stated that they wanted to focus more of their time and energy at Texas in two weeks, which effectively starts their Easter break right now. But whatever their real reason for withdrawing from Martinsville is, it doesn't hide the fact that they're in real legal and financial trouble at the moment.

Chase Elliott getting ready for Cup debut

Chase Elliott, the defending Xfinity Series champion, is hoping make make his first Sprint Cup Series start on Sunday in Martinsville, Virginia driving the #25 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott is a Hendrick development driver, which is how he got his Xfinity ride at the Hendrick-affiliated JR Motorsports last year and won 3 races in the #9 Chevy Camaro. The #25 machine will be sponsored by NAPA Auto parts, just like the #9 car, and will be attempted by Elliott in four other races in 2015 in addition to this weekend's Cup race.

Slugger Labbe suspended as RCR #33 team is penalized

Sprint Cup Series crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe has been suspended for the next three races - Martinsville, Texas and Bristol - in the wake of penalties handed out to the #33 Chevrolet team co-owned by Childress and Joe Falk during Friday inspection at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The #33 team, whose car was driven by Childress's Xfinity Series driver Brian Scott at Fontana under the RCR banner, was found to have an illegal truck trailer arm extension. They were hit with a P4 penalty for using unapproved parts as well as actions detrimental to stock car racing. Labbe was fined $50,000 and is on probation through December 31 in addition to his suspension. Falk has also lost 25 owner points for the #33 car.

Labbe departed the #27 RCR Chevrolet of Paul Menard following the 2014 season to move to the RCR-Falk operation. He had been Menard's crew chief since Menard's 2010 stint with Richard Petty Motorsports. He previously worked with other drivers such as Michael Waltrip at the unofficially RCR-aligned Dale Earnhardt Inc., Kenny Irwin Jr. and Dale Jarrett at Robert Yates Racing and Jeremy Mayfield at Evernham Motorsports. Labbe has helped Cup drivers win a number of races including the 2003 Daytona 500 with Waltrip and the 2011 Brickyard 400 with Menard. He previously served a four-race suspension in 2006 after a violation on Jarrett's car.

J.D. Gibbs undergoing treatment for "symptoms impairing brain function"

J.D. Gibbs, the son of former NFL Washington Redskins coach and current NASCAR championship race team owner Joe Gibbs, is undergoing treatment for what was simply stated as "brain function issues," according to reports on Wednesday. Gibbs, according to the team, has experienced a "gradual onset of symptoms that includes speech and processing issues," which doctors said could be related to head injuries he suffered years ago. Although unlikely in Gibbs' case, these symptoms are sometimes the result of more serious cases such as brain tumors and brain cancer. But the JGR community is confident that Gibbs will make a full recovery, and he is expected to keep his presence at the team's shops during his treatment. Gibbs' case comes at the same time Kyle Busch is recovering from a compound leg fracture he suffered in a crash during the Xfinity Series race at Daytona in February, as well as another recurrence of Brian Vickers' blood clots, the same ones that prompted Vickers' December heart surgery.

Brett Moffitt officially running for Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year

With Brian Vickers once again sidelined, Michael Waltrip Racing development driver Brett Moffitt has been officially entered into the running for the 2015 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year award, competing alongside Roush Fenway Racing driver Trevor Bayne and BK Racing driver Jeb Burton. Moffitt, who finished eighth at Atlanta earlier this month substituting for Vickers as he was preparing to come back following his December heart surgery, will drive the #55 Toyota for at least three months and will now be receiving driver points for competing in the series.

Brad Keselowski steals the Cup show at Fontana

Brad Keselowski took the #2 Ford of Team Penske to a surprise win in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California on Sunday. The race took two green-white-checker attempts totaling nine extra laps to finish after a debris caution and a spin on the penultimate restart. Keselowski led only one lap during the whole race, which was mostly dominated by the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets of polesitter Kurt Busch and second-place starter and Las Vegas and Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick. Two-time defending race winner Kyle Busch remained sidelined indefinitely and was reduced to watching the race.

Busch and Harvick traded the lead early, and the first caution came when David Ragan spun after he and Jeff Gordon got into a battle over track space. Ragan's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth had their Toyotas up front throughout the middle of the race. There were a number of debris cautions, some of which were naturally thought by fans to be unnecessary. The Hendrick Chevrolets of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. slowly made their way up toward the front, as did the #42 Ganassi Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, last year's runner-up. Kenseth ran into issues late in the race and got the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap on the caution that set up the first green-white-checkered. Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle stayed out while most of the other leaders pitted. while Hamlin, Johnson and Earnhardt lost a few positions. Biffle then spun on the restart, which set up the second of three possible GWC attempts. The race restarted on lap 208 with Busch back in the lead and Harvick following him. After the leaders took the white flag, there was a spin before the checkered, but NASCAR chose to let the leaders race back to the flag. This allowed Keselowski, who had not led all day, to get by Busch and Harvick and take the win.

Many people were angry that NASCAR threw the caution on lap 199 just before Busch and Harvick were about to get the white flag for what they saw as a non-hazard. Some even accused NASCAR of conspiring against Busch, who had the best car in all of practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday, in the wake of the Patricia Driscoll situation. But others just wished NASCAR had displayed the white flag to the leaders and then thrown a caution before the checkered if they felt it was absolutely necessary. But as it turned out, Keselowski completed NASCAR's west coast swing with a come-from-behind victory that saw him as almost a non-factor until overtime. Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano finished seventh and both Penske drivers have now won in Cup competition this year. In addition, Martin Truex Jr. took the #78 Chevrolet to his fifth-straight top-ten finish, whie Justin Allgaier finished 12th in the #51 Chevrolet and Chris Buescher stayed out of trouble in his Cup debut and took the #34 Ford home in 20th.

The series now heads back east to race in Martinsville, Virginia next Sunday along with the Camping World Truck Series on Saturday. This will be the first truck race in a month following the Atlanta tripleheader three weeks ago. The Xfinity series is off next weekend and will return in two weeks for a Friday evening race in Fort Worth, Texas, the day before the first Cup night race of the year there.

Race Results:

1. (8) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 209 laps, led 1 lap
2. (2) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 209 laps, led 34 laps
3. (1) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 209 laps, led 65 laps
4. (11) 27-Paul Menard - Chevrolet - 209 laps
5. (9) 31-Ryan Newman - Chevrolet - 209 laps
6. (17) 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Chevrolet - 209 laps
7. (13) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 209 laps
8. (12) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 209 laps, led 5 laps
9. (14) 48-Jimmie Johnson - Chevrolet - 209 laps
10. (7) 24-Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet - 209 laps

Harvick takes first Fontana Xfinity Series win

Kevin Harvick won for the first time in the Xfinity Series at his home track on Saturday in the 300-mile race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California driving the #88 Chevrolet of JR Motorsports. Harvick, from Bakersfield, previously won the 2011 Sprint Cup race at Auto Club while driving for Richard Childress. This is Harvick's 46th win overall in the Xfinity Series, in which he has won two championships. He is also the defending Cup series champion and is currently on a hot streak in that series, having seven-straight top-two finishes dating back to Texas last November and winning the last two races in the series at Las Vegas and Phoenix. The Fontana race weekend is part of NASCAR's "west coast swing" that also included Vegas and Phoenix, and it has become apparent that Harvick races best out west, where he grew up and started his racing career.



On the pole was Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones, back in the #20 Toyota after subbing for Kyle Busch in the joint Busch-Gibbs #54 Toyota, which was piloted by Busch's Cup teammate Denny Hamlin on Saturday. Jones led four laps before Brad Keselowski in the #22 Ford and then Hamlin got on the point. Harvick led 100 laps and was briefly passed by teammate Regan Smith, David Starr, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Darrell Wallace Jr. during pit stops. The Richard Petty-affiliated Fords of Dakoda Armstrong and Sam Hornish Jr. ran into trouble during the race, as did Las Vegas winner Austin Dillon in the #33 Chevrolet.


The Xfinity Series is off next weekend while the Camping World Truck Series and Sprint Cup Series race in Martinsville, Virginia. The Cup and Xfinity series will rejoin each other the week after that in Fort Worth, Texas for the first night race weekend.


Race results:

1. (6) 88-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 150 laps, led 100 laps
2. (8) 62-Brendan Gaughan - Chevrolet - 150 laps
3. (1) 20-Erik Jones - Toyota - 150 laps, led 4 laps
4. (13) 9-Chase Elliott - Chevrolet - 150 laps
5. (14) 60-Chris Buescher - Ford - 150 laps
6. (2) 2-Brian Scott - Chevrolet - 150 laps
7. (11) 42-Kyle Larson - Chevrolet - 150 laps
8. (4) 22-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 150 laps, led 1 lap
9. (5) 7-Regan Smith - Chevrolet - 150 laps, led 4 laps
10. (10) 1-Elliott Sadler - Ford - 150 laps

Vickers out again, Moffitt back at MWR; Chris Buescher to make Cup debut

Brian Vickers, who returned to Sprint Cup competition at Las Vegas two weeks ago following his December heart surgery, is experiencing yet another recurrence of the blood clots he has experienced on and off since 2010. Vickers was sidelined for a great deal of the 2010 season, when he drove the #83 Toyota at Red Bull Racing. He was then substituted by Elliott Sadler in the last four races of 2013 at Michael Waltrip Racing in the #55 Toyota, a few months after winning at New Hampshire that July. March happens to be blood clot awareness month and Saturday's Xfinity Series race at Fontana is called the Drive4Clots 300. Vickers said in an online post on Friday that he hopes his situation will be especially effective at this time of the year.

Vickers will once again be replaced by development driver Brett Moffitt, who drove Michael Waltrip's #55 to an eighth place finish at Atlanta on March 1. Moffitt drove the #34 Ford of Front Row Motorsports at Las Vegas and Phoenix as a fill-in for David Ragan, who himself is subbing for the injured Kyle Busch in the Joe Gibbs #18 Toyota. Moffitt was lined up to drive the #34 one more time at Fontana in the Cup race on Sunday before Vickers' latest issues arose. Instead, the fourth driver of that car in five races will be Roush Xfinity driver Chris Buescher. The #34 should have enough points for Buescher to make the Cup race.

Keselowski wants Kyle Busch back soon

Brad Keselowski has admitted that he hoped injured Kyle Busch will be back in competition soon, despite the stormy past the two drivers have had with one another. In a post on his website, Keselowski said that he respects Kyle and his method of driving, and that he is looking forward to racing with him again this year. The two drivers have had a number of run-ins on the track, including some late-race battles at the Watkins Glen road course as well as the Bristol short track.

A wild time for Stewart-Haas Racing

Stewart-Haas Racing has experienced a lot in the past few months, with Kevin Harvick's championship run and seven-straight top two race finishes, Tony Stewart's unfortunate fatal sprint car accident coming a year after his broken leg, Kurt Busch's suspension resulting from the Patricia Driscoll case, and Danica Patrick possibly facing release from the team at season's end due to lower performance than other full-time drivers.

Jamie Dick diagnosed with diabetes

Xfinity Series driver Jamie Dick has been diagnosed with diabetes after being hospitalized following Saturday's race at Phoenix, and will sit out at least for next week's race in Fontana, California, to be replaced by Jeffrey Earnhardt. Dick joins Daytona race winner Ryan Reed as diabetic drivers in NASCAR's number two series.

Kevin Harvick extends Phoenix streak

Kevin Harvick took his fourth straight win in the Sprint Cup Series at Phoenix on Sunday in the CampingWorld.com 500, a 500-kilometer, 312-mile race. It was Harvick's second straight win and seventh straight top-two finish in the series. This gives Harvick seven total wins at the Arizona track, more than any other driver. Up front with Harvick during much of the race was his teammate, reinstated driver Kurt Busch, who tried a couple of times to take the lead but could get get by Harvick's fast car. Their boss and teammate Tony Stewart spun after being hit by Paul Menard, and then with 24 laps to go had a tire going down and hit the frontstretch wall.

Several right rear tires encountered issues during the race. Sam Hornish Jr. lost his right rear and spun on the backstretch on lap 112. The same thing happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on lap 182 in turn 3. Earnhardt, who had three straight top-fives to start the season, including a third in the Daytona 500 in which he came in as the defending champion, wound up finishing in 43rd and last place, moving down the running order as Brian Vickers and Michael Annett got back on the track after spending time in the garage. Vickers hit the wall on lap 3 and Earnhardt's teammate Jimmie Johnson got a piece of this incident, subsequently dropping to 40th before slowly climbing back up the leaderboard. Clint Bowyer also reported his right rear going down around the time of a restart.

Drivers who had a good race were Jeff Gordon, who stayed out of trouble after three straight weeks of misfortune; Martin Truex Jr. with a fourth straight top-ten finish driving for a lower-level team; as well as Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray and Matt Kenseth, who all won in 2013 but not in 2014, and came close to ending their winless streaks.

With two of three race weekends in NASCAR's west coast swing in the books, the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series head to Fontana, California in the greater Los Angeles area next Sunday for the 200-lap Auto Club 400, whose two-time defending champion is the injured Kyle Busch, at the same start time of about 3:45 pm eastern.

Race Results:

1. (1) 4-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 312 laps, led 224 laps
2. (3) 1-Jamie McMurray - Chevrolet - 312 laps, led 1 lap
3. (5) 31-Ryan Newman - Chevrolet - 312 laps
4. (9) 5-Kasey Kahne - Chevrolet - 312 laps
5. (8) 41-Kurt Busch - Chevrolet - 312 laps
6. (6) 2-Brad Keselowski - Ford - 312 laps, led 52 laps
7. (15) 78-Martin Truex Jr. - Chevrolet - 312 laps
8. (2) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 312 laps, led 35 laps
9. (10) 24-Jeff Gordon - Chevrolet - 312 laps
10. (12) - 42-Kyle Larson - Chevrolet - 312 laps

Joey Logano ends long Xfinity Series winless streak

Joey Logano took the #22 Penske Ford to his first Xfinity Series win in more than a year in the 200-mile race on Saturday at Phoenix, in the second of three straight west coast trips for the Xfinity and Sprint Cup series. Logano's last win had been in September of 2013 in Dover, Delaware. The Penske Xfinity team has fielded many strong cars in the series for several years, and was therefore a team to watch once again on Saturday. Other dominant drivers included Atlanta winner Kevin Harvick in the #88 Chevrolet and Erik Jones in the #20 Toyota. Brennan Poole, in his second series start, made a move to try to stretch his fuel to the end, leading six laps but ending up a few laps short. The race had a couple of incidents including top-ten points drivers Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon, the current points leader, getting together on lap 140, as well as Landon Cassill having a tire go down earlier in the race. Daytona winner Ryan Reed is still the only Xfinity regular to win a race in the series so far this season.

Race Results:

1. (1) 22-Joey Logano - Ford - 200 laps
2. (4) 20-Matt Kenseth - Toyota - 200 laps
3. (2) 88-Kevin Harvick - Chevrolet - 200 laps
4. (5) 33-Austin Dillon - Chevrolet - 200 laps
5. (3) 54-Erik Jones - Toyota - 200 laps
6. (11) 3-Ty Dillon - Chevrolet - 200 laps
7. (7) 9-Chase Elliott - Chevrolet - 200 laps
8. (9) 62-Brendan Gaughan - Chevrolet - 200 laps
9. (8) 7-Regan Smith - Chevrolet - 200 laps
10. (12) 2-Brian Scott - Chevrolet - 200 laps

Tanner Berryhill to attempt Cup debut

Another new face will be present in the Sprint Cup Series at Phoenix as Xfinity Series driver Tanner Berryhill attempts to qualify on Friday for Sunday's race at Phoenix.

Kurt Busch reinstated

Kurt Busch has been granted reinstatement into NASCAR to return to the #41 team at Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch had signed a multi-year contract with the team and returned to victory lane at Martinsville last March before the Patricia Driscoll incident supposedly took place at Dover in September. Busch, after driving in the Sprint Unlimited and Budweiser Duel at Daytona, was suspended less than 48 hours before the Daytona 500 last month. Since then, Regan Smith has driven the #41 car in the first three Sprint Cup points races of the season. Many fans thought NASCAR made a bad decision to suspend Busch and begged for his reinstatement the whole time.

Can Jeff Gordon's luck improve this year?

Jeff Gordon announced in January his intentions for 2015 to be the last year he competes for a championship in NASCAR's top series. So far, he's had mixed luck. Through three races, Gordon has won two poles, at Daytona and Las Vegas. But he got caught up in a crash triggered by Austin Dillon on the final lap of the Daytona 500, got collected in another crash at Atlanta and hit a SAFER barrier-less wall, had to start the Vegas race in the back after a practice incident with Danica Patrick and then had more issues with his backup car during the actual race. Gordon now sits 30th in points, 14 spots out of the Chase Grid. But he wants his luck to improve in his final season and hopefully pull off some last wins before he goes out.

Dale Jr. wants back in victory lane

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was disappointed with his fourth-place finish in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas. After his winningest season in NASCAR's top series in a decade and a non-points win in the first Budweiser Duel at Daytona, Earnhardt finished third at both Daytona and Atlanta before the west coast trip began. Three straight top-five finishes isn't bad, but Earnhardt said after Sunday's race "if it ain't first, it's not a win." And at least one other driver, Kevin Harvick, has had even more success in the past few months with six straight top-two points race finishes and a series championship in the middle of it. Harvick's success is one of many factors that further fuels Earnhardt's hunger to get another points win.

Kevin Harvick begins title defense with Las Vegas Cup win

Kevin Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion, led 142 of 267 laps on his way to his 29th series win and first at Las Vegas, the site of Sunday's 400-mile Cup race. This win virtually guarantees Harvick a chance to defend his championship when the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup begins at Chicagoland in September. The Las Vegas, Nevada race was the second-straight intermediate track race following last week's Atlanta trip, and was the first in a series of three consecutive west coast races for the Sprint Cup and Xfinity series that also includes visits to Phoenix, Arizona and Fontana, California. Finishing second was Martin Truex Jr., third Ryan Newman and fourth Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Many drivers suffered problems during the race, including Jimmie Johnson, who led 45 laps but then had a vibration that caused him to make an unscheduled pit atop, followed by a pair of spins. Johnson finished 42nd. Carl Edwards also had problems in the #19 Toyota and finished 41st. Jeff Gordon, who moved from the pole to the back of the field with his backup car after Saturday's practice incident, had yet another spin with damage in Sunday's race, leaving him with another poor finish and 30th in points. Even Harvick thought he had a tire going down with less than ten laps left, and he shredded his right rear tire a lot during his victory burnout, creating a sight in victory lane. The only retiree from the race was Alex Bowman, whose #7 Chevrolet lost its engine on lap 28 and brought out the first of six cautions.

Austin Dillon dominates Xfinity Series at Las Vegas, ends winless streak

Austin Dillon was fastest in both Xfinity Series practices at Las Vegas on Friday and also took the pole. His #33 Chevrolet stayed fast during Saturday's 300-mile Xfinity race, and in the end Dillon held off the #22 Ford of Ryan Blaney to take his first Xfinity Series win since September of 2012, when he was driving the #3 car now driven by his brother Ty. In 2013, Dillon won the series championship without winning any races, and moved up to the Sprint Cup Series in 2014 to replace Kevin Harvick. On Saturday, Dillon, now doing double duty by running most Xfinity races in addition to his full Cup schedule, returned to being the driver he had been back when he was an Xfinity regular.

Some Cup regulars such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin also had fast cars. Xfinity regulars Erik Jones, Brian Scott, Ty Dillon and Elliott Sadler also did well in practice and qualifying, but ran into some issues during the actual race. Scott had major engine problems just a few laps into the race that sent him to the garage, while Jones, a teammate of Kyle Busch whose sub for this race in the #54 Toyota was Hamlin, experienced a third non-SAFER barrier hit in as many weeks in NASCAR national series competition, further perpetuating the calls from drivers, crew members and fans to install SAFER barriers at every single point of all major NASCAR tracks.

Las Vegas different without Busch brothers

Las Vegas, Nevada is the hometown of the Busch brothers of NASCAR, Kurt and Kyle. For more than a decade they have raced in NASCAR in some capacity and each won several races in multiple series, with controversy also surrounding them through the years. But this weekend, no driver with the surname Busch will compete in the Xfinity or Sprint Cup races this weekend at Las Vegas. Kurt is still suspended indefinitely but is trying to get NASCAR to let him begin the reinstatement process, while Kyle remains sidelined with a broken leg and foot from his hard crash during the Daytona Xfinity race two weeks ago. NASCAR at Las Vegas without the Busch brothers seems unimaginable, but that is one of the stories of the annual Las Vegas race weekend this year.

NASCAR kicks off west coast trip with hauler parade

NASCAR's next three race weekends, at Las Vegas, Phoenix and Fontana, are all on the west coast of the United States. To kick off this west coast swing, many Sprint Cup haulers took a trip down the Las Vegas strip on Thursday evening in preparation for the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to the northeast of the city on Sunday. The Xfinity Series also races at the track on Saturday and will follow the Cup cars to Phoenix and Fontana. Both series head back east at the end of the month, with the Cup cars being rejoined by the Camping World Truck Series in Martinsville, Virginia and the Xfinity Series returning to action the following Friday evening in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kurt Busch will not face charges

Kurt Busch is not expected to be charged in the domestic assault case that allegedly occurred last September during the second of two annual Dover race weekends. Busch has been suspended indefinitely after it was ruled in the midst of Daytona Speedweeks two weeks ago that there was "sufficient evidence" in favor of Busch's ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll. Busch has since filed for reinstatement of his NASCAR license in the hopes of getting back into the #41 Chevrolet at Stewart-Haas Racing, with whom he signed a multi-year contract in the fall of 2013. Some have argued that Busch should not have been suspended at all, let alone in the middle of NASCAR's opening week, and in fact when the allegations surfaced at Phoenix last November, team co-owner Gene Haas said he was "not interested" in suspending Busch. Only when a contingency plan was made for a possible substitute for Busch earlier in February did it become clear that Busch was facing suspension after all.

Brett Moffitt to drive the #34 Ford in next three Cup races

Brett Moffitt, a Sprint Cup development driver for two Toyotas affiliated with Michael Waltrip Racing during the past several months, will be driving the #34 Ford of Front Row Motorsports as a substitute for David Ragan at Las Vegas this coming Sunday as well as the next two races at Phoenix and Fontana. Moffitt was a substitute driver for Brian Vickers at Atlanta and took the #55 Toyota to an upset eighth-place finish. Vickers, who had heart surgery in December which was connected with the blood clots he has suffered from for the past several years, will return to competition at Las Vegas. David Ragan's selection by Joe Gibbs to drive the #18 Toyota in place of the injured Kyle Busch and FRM's owner Bob Jenkins not to keep Atlanta driver Joe Nemechek for Las Vegas and beyond left another Cup racing opportunity for Moffitt to continue to prove himself in the series.

SpongeBob SquarePants to take over Kansas Cup race in May

The upcoming Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway in May will be known as the SpongeBob SquarePants 400. The race will be held on Saturday night, May 9. The SpongeBob show has aired since 1999 on Nickelodeon and remains very popular 16 years after its debut. It has been involved in NASCAR before, including sponsoring the #48 of Jimmie Johnson as a partner with Lowe's in a couple of races, and sponsoring a then-Busch Series race at Charlotte in October of 2004 known as Lowe's Presents the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300, as a promotion for the show's first feature film. Why spring Kansas as opposed to another sponsorless Cup race is anyone's guess, but SpongeBob as a sponsor in NASCAR's top series is sure to generate a lot of buzz in the two months leading up to the first of Kansas' two annual race weekends.

Jimmie Johnson wins Atlanta Cup race

Jimmie Johnson won the QuikTrip Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta on Sunday, taking his 71st Sprint Cup Series win. Johnson, who did not get his first win last year until May, started back in 37th after not being able to qualify on Friday due to being stuck in inspection. Johnson held off drivers with better cars including Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano, and led several of the race's later laps.

The start of the race was delayed about an hour due to rain in the Atlanta area. There was then a competition caution after 25 laps, coming just after a salute to Jeff Gordon on lap 24 where every position on the scoring pylon was displayed with "24" rather than the actual running order. The race was also stopped after an eight-car crash on lap 303 of 325. Gordon would be caught up in an earlier multi-car crash with Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray, hitting a wall without a SAFER barrier, just like Kyle Busch in last week's Daytona Xfinity race. Gordon and Busch both expressed their frustrations on Twitter after the race.

Harvick and Earnhardt finished second and third for the second week in a row. It was also Harvick's fifth straight top-two Cup points race finish, dating back to the 500-mile Texas race in November also won by Johnson.