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" The Kobalt Tools 400Las Vegas Motor SpeedwayTrack SpecsLayout: 1.5-mile tri-ovalBanking/Turns: Progressive (18&amp;deg;-20&amp;deg;), Banking/Tri-oval: 9&amp;deg;, Banking/Backstretch: 3&amp;deg; &amp;nbsp;NASCAR Sprint Cup SeriesDate: Sunday, March 9TV: FOX (3:00 pm EST)Race Length: 400.5 miles/267 lapsTrack Qualifying Record: 190.456 mph (Kasey Kahne, 2012)Race Record: 146.554 mph (Mark Martin, 1998)2013 Winner: Matt KensethNASCAR Nationwide SeriesBoyd Gaming 300Date: Saturday, March 8TV: ESPN2 (4:15 pm EST)2013 Winner: Sam Hornish Jr.Crew Chief&amp;rsquo;s Take&amp;ldquo;Track position seems to play more of a role in Vegas than most any of the other 1.5-mile tracks we go to. It&amp;rsquo;s fast, and aero-issues come into play, which puts passing at a premium. And there&amp;rsquo;s a fine line between having a good handling car and having one that&amp;rsquo;s wrecking loose. It&amp;rsquo;s also different from the other SMI ovals in that it&amp;rsquo;s a tri-oval and not a quad. I&amp;rsquo;ve never thought to ask why that is. Of course, everyone loves going out to Vegas &amp;mdash; it&amp;rsquo;s like an early-season working vacation because of the strip and all there is to do. Keeping the team focused is important here.&amp;rdquo;Fantasy StallContendersCarl Edwards&amp;ensp;Edwards (left) won twice in the last six Las Vegas races (in which he averaged a series-best 6.8 finish) and finished fifth in 2012 and &amp;rsquo;13, the latter being an increase over his 8.1-place average running position.Greg Biffle&amp;ensp;Despite his four top-10 finishes in Vegas races dating back to 2008, Biffle &amp;shy;doesn&amp;rsquo;t have a win to show for his ample production. Still, he has been a frequent frontrunner; he has led in four of the last five races there.SleeperDale Earnhardt Jr.&amp;ensp;Earnhardt is the only driver to accrue five top-10 finishes in the last six Las Vegas races. His 8.8-place average finish &amp;mdash; a series-high in that span &amp;mdash; has translated into only one top-5 result. He&amp;rsquo;s past due for a breakthrough performance.Runs on Seven CylindersKurt Busch&amp;ensp;Omit a ninth-place finish in 2011, and Busch has averaged a 30.2-place result in the CoT/Gen-6 era at his hometown track. While it&amp;rsquo;s reasonable to believe that his fortunes would improve driving for SHR, his results there with Penske Racing &amp;mdash; three finishes of 23rd or worse &amp;mdash; weren&amp;rsquo;t inspiring.Classic Moments at LVMSWhen the race is on the line, there are few drivers as good as Jimmie Johnson. We found out just how clutch he would prove to be over his career in the 2006 UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400.With crew chief Chad Knaus on the sidelines after a rules infraction at Daytona, many questioned how well Johnson would start the &amp;rsquo;06 season. However, he won at Daytona, was a close second to Matt Kenseth at Fontana, and looked like he was going to finish second again at Las Vegas. That was before a caution on lap 265 sent the race into an overtime two-lap dash to the finish.Johnson stalked Kenseth &amp;mdash; who led a race-high 146 circuits &amp;mdash; on the first of the two green-flag laps, fading to the inside as they came to the white flag. On the last lap, Kenseth &amp;mdash; seeing what Johnson did the previous lap &amp;mdash; guarded the low line, but that didn&amp;rsquo;t matter to Johnson as he powered around the outside to nip Kenseth at the stripe by 0.045 seconds, or about a half a car length.&amp;nbsp;Google "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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