A new driver is playing the role of Martin Truex Jr. early this year. Truex embraced stage racing in its inaugural season in 2017 on his way to a championship. His 19 stage wins and eight race wins led all drivers and only Kyle Busch was even in the same league.
So far this year, Kevin Harvick has taken over the top spot and has been untouchable over the last two weeks. He dominated at Atlanta for the fifth straight year, but this time finally came away with the victory. He followed it up by putting in an amazing performance in Las Vegas.
Harvick swept the race, winning stage one, stage two and then the race overall to take over first place in the championship points standings.
Harvick went into the weekend thinking this weekend's race at Las Vegas would give younger drivers a better chance at winning than Atlanta, and he said fans can expect the younger drivers to perform much better.
"There will be a lot of young guys in the mix [at Vegas] with a racetrack that's a little calmer with things that you don't have to have in your memory bank," Harvick said during the week leading up to the race via AutoSport.
That prediction didn't end up playing out, but Harvick is probably ok with being wrong.
The race had been dominated by veterans in recent years, too. Martin Truex Jr. won last year, and Brad Keselowski has won two of the last three. Harvick last won in 2015.
