DiBenedetto stays on track for runner-up finish in Pennzoil 400
To pit or not to pit?
That was the question when the yellow flag came out with five laps to go in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Joey Logano stayed out and won the race.
Matt DiBenedetto stayed out and finished second.
Who needs fresh tires, anyway?
“Second race of the season, and we’re starting off with a second-place finish,” said DiBenedetto, who was briefly in the unemployment line last season before landing a ride in the iconic Wood Brothers Ford.
“It’s just too dang surreal to be driving this thing in the first place. I was a little worried about our car, though. It wasn’t a picture-perfect day.”
The 28-year-old Californian said it took patience and communication between driver and crew to get the No. 21 car to the front.
“We made huge adjustments dialing it in every pit stop, little by little, getting it there to the end where I was comfortable staying out,” he said.
Busch whacked
When Kyle Busch won his only Cup Series race on his hometown track in 2009, he started on the pole, dropped to the rear of the field and then sliced through it to spray sports drink in victory circle.
On Sunday, he started on the pole, dropped to the rear of the field … and finished 15th.
“It was a struggle for us all day,” said the two-time and reigning Cup Series champion. “Our Camry was better there at the end, but we just ran out of laps to have a shot at a better finish. We’ll just regroup and hope we can have a better race at Fontana next weekend.”
Big brother Kurt also will be in regroup mode after running in the middle of the pack during the first half of the race and finishing 25th.
The two Las Vegas drivers in the rain-delayed Boyd Gaming Xfinity Series race fared better. Noah Gragson finished fourth and Riley Herbst ninth.
Jimmie dandy
Perhaps it was racing luck, perhaps it was instinct that comes with age, experience and winning seven Cup Series championships. But when cars started banging together and spinning around on the white flag lap of the Pennzoil 400, Jimmie Johnson managed to steer clear and salvage fifth place.
“We’re trying to understand this new Camaro body and the setup that comes with it,” said the popular driver of Rick Hendrick’s No. 48 Chevrolet. “We’re close, but there’s still a little more work for us to do on our car and get the balance between (running in) clean air and traffic closer.”
Johnson, the career leader in LVMS wins with four, was encouraged by the performance of all four Hendrick entries, especially Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman who contended for the win.
“Last year we left here pretty worried about where we were,” Johnson said. “To leave here with cars that ran in the top five all day, and one of our cars (Elliott) led, I know we’ll be able to increase a couple of percentage (points) every week to get better.”
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.