Denny Hamlin was too fast on pit road early in the race, then too fast for the competition on the track at Las Vegas.
Hamlin recovered from a Lap 84 speeding penalty on pit road to win the Pennzoil 400 NASCAR Cup Series race on March 15.
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The No. 11 Toyota needed just 91 laps to move back through the field and regain the lead. He pulled away from teammate Christopher Bell on the final restart, then held off a late charge from Chase Elliott for the win.
Toyota claimed five of the first nine spots in the finishing order, while Hendrick Motorsports tossed aside a poor run with three drivers inside the top seven, including Elliott (second), William Byron (third) and Kyle Larson (seventh).
Hamlin earned his 61st career Cup Series win, 10th all-time.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR Las Vegas race:
POINTS UPDATE: NASCAR points standings, Cup Series points update after Las Vegas race
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NASCAR Las Vegas winners and losers as Toyota, Denny Hamlin dominates
Winner: Toyota (and not just this week)
This has been the year of Toyota through the first five weeks, and Las Vegas was the weekend of Toyota.
Tyler Reddick’s three wins to start the year is part of the manufacturer’s success, which continued in Vegas. Toyotas claimed the first four starting spots, led by Hamlin’s pole. Hamlin and Bell were the strongest cars among the leaders, especially early in runs.
Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Hamlin and Bell are among the top six in points, while Ty Gibbs is trending well. And if Chase Briscoe can clean up the errors, Toyota can max out as the top manufacturer in the Cup Series.
Winner: RFK Racing
Las Vegas was not a banner race for Ford, but RFK Racing delivered the kind of day that’ll send two or three drivers into the Chase by the fall.
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Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece both ran around the top 10 for most of the day. Preece claimed points in both stages before finishing 11th, while Buescher peaked in the final run of the race for a sixth-place finish.
The surprise of the day was the late surge for owner-driver Brad Keselowski. The veteran started 28th and slowly moved up the leaderboard in the first 200 laps. But by the checkered flag, Keselowski finished in 10th place after a late pass of Tyler Reddick.
The three RFK Racing drivers were the highest-finishing Fords of the race, and all three left Vegas inside the top 16 in points.
Loser: Josh Berry
Penske struggled in the second half of the race, while Penske-affiliated Wood Brothers Racing struggled from the get-go at Las Vegas.
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Last year, Josh Berry won at Las Vegas in a surprising result for his first career Cup win. The difference in a year was stark.
Berry started outside the top 30 and earned a pit road speeding penalty early in the race.
And in a race with several lengthy green-flag runs, he was never able to turn his race around. He finished 32nd, three laps down. Berry is now 32nd in points, 61 points behind 16th, in what has been an awful start for a driver and team that should be much more competitive.
Loser: Shane van Gisbergen
Shane van Gisbergen’s day had a Lap 1 setback and did not get any better.
SVG nearly spun on Lap 1, saving the car but slamming the splitter on the apron. He fell from a top-20 starting spot to outside the top 30 by the end of the first tire run.
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His team repaired the damage, but the performance wasn’t good enough for the No. 97 Trackhouse Chevrolet.
SVG finished 36th, five laps down. He slipped from fifth to 16th in the points standings, all but erasing his advantage from a friendly start to the season.
If making the Chase is the goal, SVG has to avoid these results because his baseline on ovals is not yet high enough.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Las Vegas winners, losers as Toyota, Denny Hamlin dominate weekend
