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03.09.15
Kobalt 400 Post-Report
Date: March 8, 2015
Event: Kobalt 400 (Round 3 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 21st/27th (Running, completed 264 of 267 laps)
Point Standing: 20th (68 points)
Winner: Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing (Chevrolet)
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), finished 27th in Sunday’s Kobalt 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after handling issues plagued her car for most of the race.
Patrick started the race from the 21st position and was able to work her way up to 17th before the handling went away on her No. 10 Chevy. Crew chief Daniel Knost called for chassis, packer and air pressure adjustments throughout the first two-thirds of the race, but Patrick continued to battle a car that was loose on entry and tight in the center of the corner.
She went down a lap to the leader at lap 82 after a sequence of green-flag pit stops and had no luck in getting her lap back on the subsequent long, green-flag run. Patrick went a second lap down to the leader at lap 128, and when she entered pit road under caution at lap 174, she asked the team to take a big swing at the adjustments.
Patrick restarted in the 32nd position, and when the caution flag waved just a few laps later, she noted the car was the best it had been all day. In the closing laps of the race she worked her way up to the 27th position and took the checkered flag three laps down to the leader.
“We got a little off track there the first couple of pit stops and weren’t able to make it back up,” Patrick said. “I needed to get into the corner harder, but the car was so loose that I couldn’t arc it the way I needed to. I’ve had better days at the racetrack, but the GoDaddy Chevrolet was definitely better the last few runs, so that was a positive. And the guys did a good job on pit road today, especially considering all the adjustments we made throughout the race.”
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s/Budweiser Chevrolet SS, led the four-car SHR contingent by winning Sunday’s Kobalt 400. It was the 26th points-paying Sprint Cup win for SHR since its inception in 2009 and the organization’s first this season.
Harvick, the reigning Sprint Cup champion, started 18th and led five times for a race-high 142 laps around the 1.5-mile oval. It was his 29th career Sprint Cup victory, his first at Las Vegas and his third in the last six races dating back to Texas Motor Speedway in November. This was Harvick’s sixth straight finish of second or better. The last driver to have six consecutive top-two finishes was Jeff Gordon in 1996.
Regan Smith, interim driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for SHR, started 34th and finished 16th.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS for SHR, started 12th and finished 33rd.
Martin Truex Jr. finished 1.64 seconds behind Harvick in the runner-up spot, while Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five. AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were six caution periods for 28 laps, with only one driver failing to finish the 267-lap race.
With round three of 36 complete, Harvick leads SHR in the championship point standings. He is first with 134 points, nine ahead of second-place Earnhardt. Patrick is 20th with 68 points, 66 points out of first. Stewart is 34th with 27 points, 107 points out of first. Smith didn’t accumulate any points because he is a fulltime driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.