iNSIDE SCOOP: And the Verdict Is…

The first intermediate race of the season has come and gone, and there were lots and lots of eyes on the competition level at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Competition was pretty good, at least from here. There were 21 lead changes among 10 drivers, and Chevrolets led 114 laps to Ford’s 98. Toyota led 55.

The fact that the cars raced single-file for some of the race was noticed, but when they decided to race for it, they raced.

I lost count of the three-wide races going on, and there was one stretch of laps where Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman were slicing and dicing for about seventh place that was riveting for a while.

Of course, once Dale Earnhardt Jr. got into the lead with a dwindling supply of Sunoco Racing Fuel in the tank, it was a wait-and-see game, and we waited until Turn 2 of the final lap before it ran out.

Overall, I’d give it a solid B-plus, which on the curve is about an A minus.

That’s not bad.

The new fascia changes and the square edge on the splitter worked, as I see it. The drivers still had to deal with dirty air, because that’s what the changes were designed to produce. They still had a little bit of aero push, which is always going to happen as long as the cars have fenders.

But they could pass when they needed to, and that’s what we’re measuring them on.

Yeah, there were only four cautions, and none of them for accidents, so it meant a lot more green-flag stops than yellow-flag stops. As my old friend Jimmy White always says, “you’ll have that in big-time auto racing.”

Even so, the good thing about it is, the race came down to the final laps with the outcome still in question. When you get right down to it, that’s what we want, right?

I noticed on the Tweeter that some folks didn’t like the racing, and I can see where they’re coming from. I don’t happen to agree, but I can see where they’re coming from very clearly.

You aren’t going to have a side-by-side, battle-for-the-lead-every-lap race in very many places, Daytona and Talladega notwithstanding.

On a 1.5-mile track, you’re going to get good racing like that for about 10-15 laps, especially after a restart, and they’ll settle out. It is the nature of the beastie, y’all. Tire wear, handling, traffic…it all adds in, and so does fuel mileage. 

I know. I’m hip. You don’t like fuel mileage racing. Still, what’s the difference between a fuel-mileage strategy and a game plan on the football field? Nothing, strategically speaking. That’s why they call it strategy.

Brad Keselowski short-stopped and won the race. Junior tried to stretch and finished second.

Can’t get no better than that, can you?