This weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is an important one for several teams trying to make a stay in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. After the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will move to the Bristol Motor Speedway and the qualifying rules will change over to the 2014 owner point standings.
In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series the 43 car field for each race is set by qualifying on Friday. NASCAR takes the 36 fastest cars from qualifying and seven cars of the teams highest in owner points who are not already qualified into the field by their speed and puts them into the race and sets the field based on those premises. In the 2014 season, for the first three races NASCAR uses owner points from the 2013 season. After three weeks, and heading into the fourth week’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway NASCAR will use 2014 owner points from that point on.
What that means is teams that have gotten off to a sluggish start in 2014 need to have a great weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to help qualify themselves into the race at Bristol Motor Speedway. There are several teams on the cusp of having to qualify their way into the race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Looking at the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Owner Points Standings there are six to seven full-time teams in need of a good run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Included in that group is Danica Patrick in the #10 Chevrolet. Patrick and her team currently sit 41st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Owner Point Standings after two races and need a top 25 finish at Las Vegas to give them some breathing room. A crash at Daytona and another one at Phoenix has put Patrick and her team in a tough spot. With her struggles in qualifying from a year ago (just 10 top 25 starts in 2013) the last thing that team needs is to be low in owner points heading into Bristol Motor Speedway. It would be a long shot for Patrick to miss a race but I doubt it’s a situation Stewart Haas Racing is comfortable with being in.
Another team in desperate need of a good finish at Las Vegas is the #83 BK Racing team and rookie driver Ryan Truex. Truex missed the season opening Daytona 500 in February and now find themselves with their back against the wall. The team sits 44th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner points standings and Truex, who has just one NASCAR start in his career at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, heads into this weekend in desperate need of a good showing. With Truex still learning how to drive these cars and most of these tracks being fairly new to him a bad run at Las Vegas could mean a long season for the #83 team.
Michael Waltrip Racing/Jay Robinson Racing’s #66 Toyota team could be in trouble as well. The team is in a combined effort and currently sits 45th in the owner points after two races. Michael Waltrip drove the car at Daytona International Speedway and was involved in an early wreck and finished 41st. Joe Nemechek drove the car at Phoenix and finished 40th after mechanical failures plauged the team all day long. Veteran driver Jeff Burton will drive the car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a lot of pressure to get that team a solid finish. The team is high in owner points from 2013 so Burton should have no trouble qualifying himself into the race, which is a big boost for Las Vegas. If Burton stays out of trouble it should be a big day for him and that team.
Front Row Motorsports’ #35 Ford could be in some trouble as well. Eric McClure missed the Daytona 500 and they tabbed young driver Blake Koch to drive the car at both Phoenix and Las Vegas. Koch finished 37th at Phoenix last Sunday and the team now sits just 46th in owner points. There is still a question as to who will drive the car when the series heads back east for the Food City 500 at Bristol. It’s an important week for Koch to get the team a solid run and get them some points so they can have some breathing room heading into that important weekend.
Levine Family Racing’s #95 and Randy Humphries’ #77 teams are in trouble as well. Dave Blaney drives Humphries’ #77 entry and failed to qualify for Phoenix. The team withdrew their entry from Daytona after a practice crash on Wednesday before the duel races ruined the team’s only car for that weekend. McDowell missed Daytona as well but made the race at Phoenix and ran well enough to put the team 43rd in owner points. If McDowell repeats his performance (33rd) at Las Vegas that he had at Phoenix it should be enough to have that team feel pretty comfortable heading into Bristol.
No matter what happens at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend there will be a few teams who will need to qualify their way into the Food City 500 with very little owner points. With the unpredictability that will be the qualifying format at Bristol these teams need to step up their games and run really strong at Las Vegas.
Check out other great articles at Sports Media 101.
- AM Racing | Hailie Deegan Dover Motor Speedway April Xfinity Preview - April 25, 2024
- RACE ADVANCE: Corey Heim at Dover Motor Speedway - April 25, 2024
- Rick Ware Racing: Justin Haley/Kaz Grala Dover Race Advance - April 25, 2024