LAS VEGAS WINNES

Remember That Guy Jimmie Johnson?

Austin Dillon, driving the iconic No. 3, won the Coors Light Pole for the Daytona 500 – an unbelievably cool story. Then, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500, capturing everyone’s hearts and minds – and covers … in the case of Sports Illustrated.

Then, Kevin Harvick went out to Phoenix and blew the doors off the place.

Lots of storylines have swirled around the early goings of the 2014 season – almost none of which has revolved around the greatest driver of the last decade. Weird.

Well, Jimmie Johnson’s break from the spotlight just might end come Lap 267 in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 – an appropriate name for a brand that occasionally graces Johnson’s hood.

Johnson, one of only two drivers to average a top-10 finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has a series-high four victories at the 1.5-mile track. He has finished in the top 10 in two of the last three races – leading double-digit laps in both. He has led laps in 10 of his 12 starts, which matches Matt Kenseth for most of any driver.

And it’s not like Johnson has struggled in the first two races. He scored top 10s in each, with two Driver Ratings over 100 points.

Hard-Charger Kenseth A Three-Time Winner At Vegas  

Matt Kenseth won last year’s Las Vegas event and has three wins overall at the track – second in the series behind Jimmie Johnson’s four Vegas triumphs. It’s safe to say another win would be encouraging for Kenseth. Two of his Vegas wins have come in his two best seasons – his 2003 championship-winning year and last year’s championship runner-up result. (His other Vegas victory came in 2004.)

Las Vegas is a track that illustrates that Kenseth is indeed all about winning races; for him, the new Chase qualifying format is made-to-order. During his 2003 championship season he simply got a bad rap, as he had only one victory and won the title largely on the strength of 22 top 10s. When the Chase was implemented the next season, critics cited Kenseth as the catalyst for the new format even though, in 2002, he had a series-high five victories.

Well, since 2003, Kenseth has won 24 times in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – including last year’s series-leading seven wins – and another 14 times in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Along the way, he has won the Daytona 500 twice. That’s hard-charging by any measurement.