Kasey Kahne, driver of the #5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet, lead the field to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 11, 2012
Photo – Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The Sprint Cup Series continues their west coast swing this weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After a shaky first two races of the season, many teams will look for a rebound performance in “Sin City.” The Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been referred to as “Jimmie’s House” since the five-time champion always seems to run well at the track. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards are the latest drivers to claim victory in Vegas but, anyone could come out of Vegas on-top this weekend.

The green flag for the Kobalt Tools 400 is set to wave on Sunday March 10^th, 2013 at 3:16 PM EST (12:16 PM PT). The race will consist of 267 laps and 400.5 miles. The weather for race day at Las Vegas looks like great racing weather with sunny conditions and a high temperature of 69 F and a low of 45 F with a zero percent chance of rain. The race can be seen on TV on FOX and a radio broadcast of the race can be heard on PRN.

In 2012, Tony Stewart went on to claim victory after he dominated the race for much of the day. This was Stewart’s first win of the season and it was a surprising one since Stewart isn’t known for winning races early in the season. Stewart went on to win two of the next three races and his season was off to a great start. Any driver could do what Stewart did this weekend and many drivers are hoping they will on Sunday. Stewart will also look to make it two in a row at Las Vegas.

After breaking his winless streak at Phoenix last weekend, Carl Edwards will look to continue his streak of luck at Las Vegas this weekend. Edwards has won here before (2008, 2011) and he will look to repeat that magic this Sunday. Hometown boys, Kurt and Kyle Busch, will attempt to win their first race on their home track this weekend since a win has eluded them for so long. Both of the brothers have a great chance of taking home the victory this weekend and it will be exciting to watch them claw their way to the front during the race. Austin Dillon will be back in the Cup Series garage this weekend and he will be driving the No.51 car for James Finch. Dillon was caught up in a wreck at Daytona and he will be trying to make it to the finish this weekend.

After just two races, two drivers of the Hendrick Motorsports clan lead the points. Both Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have had great success so far this season and they hope to continue that success this weekend. Drivers who seem to be in some trouble following the first two races include Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. who are all outside the top 30 in the point’s standings. All of those drivers (except for Kyle Busch) made the Chase last year and they all appear to be in some troublesome waters heading into Vegas. All of those drivers are in need of a good run to boost them back up in the point standings.

The race Sunday in Las Vegas should be a good one since this is the first race on the mile-and-a-half track with the Gen 6 car. This is basically another test with the new Gen 6 car since we haven’t yet raced on a mile-and-a-half with the new car. Many drivers will be strong this weekend in Las Vegas but, I am picking Jimmie Johnson to be the strongest and he will end up in victory lane at the end of the day. Johnson is always strong at Vegas and after his start to the season, there’s no reason to count Johnson out this weekend. The race will be great as always at Las Vegas this weekend. It’ll be interesting to see who can take the checkered flag and start the season off with an early win and possibly set themselves up for success to come this season.

Event Schedule

12:00-1:30 PM PT (3:00-4:30 PM EST) (Friday) Sprint Cup Series Practice, televised on SPEED

3:40 PM PT (6:40 PM EST) (Friday) Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, televised on SPEED

9:00-9:50 AM PT (12:00-12:50 PM EST) (Saturday) Sprint Cup Series Practice, televised on SPEED

12:00 PM PT (3:00 PM EST) (Sunday) Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 400, televised on FOX

Entry List via Jayski.com