Chevrolet heads to Las Vegas undefeated in 2024 across all three NASCAR national series (e-edition)
Published 9:13 pm Friday, March 1, 2024
LAS VEGAS — Two weeks into the new NASCAR season, Chevrolet heads into Las Vegas Motor Speedway undefeated.
And not just in the top Cup Series, where Daniel Suarez of Trackhouse Racing won a three-wide photo finish at the checkered flag last week at Atlanta and William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports won the Daytona 500.
But the Chevy winning streak crosses all three NASCAR national series as the bowtie brand has swept the start of the year in both the Xfinity and Truck Series’ as well. Nick Sanchez and Kyle Busch won the first two Truck Series races for Spire Motorsports, while Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing is 2 for 2 with wins at Daytona and Atlanta.
It the first time in NASCAR history a manufacturer sweep stretched through the first two weekends of a season. The Daytona sweep by Chevrolet made the automaker the only manufacturer to accomplish that more than once. Chevy also swept Daytona in 2018.
Chevrolet has now won at least one race in the NASCAR national ranks every weekend since The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway last October.
But NASCAR shifts this weekend to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which unlike Daytona and Atlanta is not a superspeedway. It’s a traditional 1.5-mile oval — the type of track that comprises the bulk of the NASCAR schedule and a closer indicator on where Ford and Toyota stack up against their rival.
Only thing is, Chevy last year was really good at Las Vegas, too. Byron won in March and Kyle Larson won in October for a Hendrick sweep of Las Vegas in Cup.
The competition is hardly throwing in the towel and Ford and Toyota drivers are eager to get their new cars to victory lane this season. Ford and Toyota both unveiled new cars for the 2024 season, while Chevrolet made no changes to its 2023 model but has still beaten their updated rivals.
“We’re just two races in, Chevrolet isn’t going to win all the races,” said Toyota driver Bubba Wallace, who was fifth at both Daytona and Atlanta. “I think it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and so far that has been Chevrolet drivers.”
Kyle Busch, another Las Vegas native, has returned home as the Cup Series points leader for the first time since joining Richard Childress Racing last season. Busch holds a one-point lead over both Byron and Austin Cindric of Team Penske as he heads into Sunday’s race.
His climb to the top began with a 12th-place finish at Daytona and then he was scored third in the three-wide photo finish at Atlanta last Sunday. The highest Busch ranked in the standings in his first season with Childress was third following the July race at Atlanta last year.
Busch has not been the points leader since he won his second Cup title in 2019 — a span of 145 races — when he still drove for Joe Gibbs Racing.