Truex Dominates in Las Vegas, Busch Left Bloodied After Post-Race Fight

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Martin Truex Jr. dominated the Kobalt 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway to win on Sunday afternoon.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Truex led a race-high 150 laps and swept both segments on his way to victory lane.  Even with a dominant car, it looked like Truex would finish second after Brad Keselowski pulled away on the final restart.  But after something broke on Keselowski’s car with two laps to go, Truex was able to get by to win the race.

Truex said the win was a gift.

“We’ve been on the other side of that plenty of times, and that’s the first one we’ve ever won,” Truex said.  “The guys on this team…made a lot of changes last night, and said let’s go for it.”

Keselowski said he didn’t know what broke on his car, but that he was proud of his team for giving him a car to compete.

“It was something pretty major because I lost the brakes and the car wouldn’t turn,” Keselowski said.  “Wish it was 265 laps but it’s not.  You win some this way; you lose some this way…that’s just the way it goes.”

Coming to the checkered flag, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano made contact racing for third.  Busch spun onto pit road and wound up 22nd, while Logano ended up fourth.  Following the on-track incident, the two got into an altercation on pit road after the race.  Busch took a swing at Logano before being tackled by Logano’s crew.  The incident left Busch with a cut on his forehead.

Logano said his car got loose in the middle of the corner which caused him to make contact with Busch.

“[Busch] tried to pin me down going into the corner, and he got into me going underneath Brad and we about crashed on entry,” Logano said.  “I was still trying to not spin out and had to chase it up and he was there…nothing intentional.”

Busch said he thought the contact was intentional.

“I got dumped,” Busch said.  “Flat out drove into the corner and wrecked me.”

“That’s how Joey races; he’s going to get it.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Larson

3. Chase Elliott

4. Joey Logano

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Jamie McMurray

9. Matt Kenseth

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Jimmie Johnson

12. Kasey Kahne

13. Trevor Bayne

14. Aric Almirola

15. Erik Jones

16. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

17. Ryan Newman

18. Michael McDowell

19. Paul Menard

20. Daniel Suarez

21. Ty Dillon

22. Kyle Busch

23. Chris Buescher

24. AJ Allmendinger

25. Austin Dillon

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Landon Cassill

28. Cole Whitt

29. David Ragan

30. Kurt Busch

31. Reed Sorenson

32. Jeffrey Earnhardt

33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

34. Gray Gaulding

35. Derrike Cope

36. Danica Patrick

37. Timmy Hill

38. Kevin Harvick

39. Corey LaJoie

Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images