Nascar Thunder Report: Las Vegas

A tough day for Tony Stewart at Vegas.  He dominated the field, leading a race high 163 laps, but a pit road mistake cost him.  He was penalized for leaving his pit with an air hose attached to the car.  It shuffled him all the way back to 23^rd.  So crew chief Darien Grubb decided to go with a pair of fresh tires and Stewart quickly raced into the lead again.  But not for long. 

The rest of the pack saw what it did for him so they did the same and caught up to him. 

In the end it was Carl Edwards who took over the lead and held on for his first victory of the season, his second at Vegas and 19^th of his career.

Meanwhile Stewart was forced to settle for another disappointing finish – second this time.   Stewart was in second-place on the final restart at Daytona but faded to 13^th and last week he led 59 laps at Phoenix only to finish seventh.  

Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman completed the top five.   

Last week’s winner at Phoenix – Jeff Gordon had a tire problem and it caused him to wreck his car.  He finished 36^th.

And engine problems ended Kyle Busch’s day early.  He ended up 38^th. 

After three races, Edwards moves from 12^th to third in the standings, seven points behind Stewart and Kurt Busch who are tied for the lead.

Bristol is up next on the schedule.