The 2018 Winston Cup Series: Harvick goes back-to-back

Kevin Harvick celebrates after winning the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas. It's Harvick's 39th Cup series win, and 100th overall between the top three series.

     "NASCAR Goes West" has begun, and Kevin Harvick is just getting started. Harvick smoked the field in Sunday's Pennzoil 400, leading 214 of 267 laps en route to a second straight win. While it was a fairly boring race, the best part was seeing the #4 car's dominance continue. Only nine cars finished on the lead lap. Harvick now looks for a third straight win when the Cup drivers head to Phoenix next week... he's certainly a favorite, with a track record eight wins there. Rounding out the top five in Sunday's race were Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., and Ryan Blaney. Both Paul Menard and Aric Almirola posted good runs, finishing 9th and 10th. The Ford surge continues as well, with the blue oval taking six of the first 10 positions.

Chase Elliott finished the day 34th, after a crash with Kurt Busch on lap 184.

     NASCAR has 11 races this season at 1.5 mile tracks. Of those, Las Vegas is the first of six "cookie cutter" races, which also include stops at Kansas, Kentucky, and Chicagoland. These four tracks are, essentially, exactly the same. Sunday's race, aside from the enjoyment of watching Harvick dominate, was incredibly boring for fans. The only major incident of the race involved Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott, when Kurt got loose and the two collided coming off of turn 4, wrecking both cars... Otherwise, the Pennzoil 400 had hardly any drama. If NASCAR thinks Las Vegas is worthy of hosting the opening race of the 'playoffs', I sure hope they'll be better action than we saw Sunday.

     After the first three races, here's a look at the classic standings, which I'll keep track of all year long. Harvick's back-to-back wins help make up for his DNF at Daytona, putting him in 4th. Team Penske is having a strong showing, with Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney running 1-2 in points, and Brad Keselowski running 12th... Meanwhile it's been a rough start for the Hendrick cars; Alex Bowman is the best of the four teammates, with 15th... Aric Almirola, riding the consistency train, has finished 11th, 13th, and 10th in the first three races, good enough for a top-10 in points... Drivers Daniel Suarez, William Byron, and Jimmie Johnson all have a lot of ground to make up early...
     Up next, the Cup drivers head to Phoenix, now renamed ISM Raceway... This will be the final race on Phoenix's old layout, before the start/finish line is moved to the backstretch. Harvick will look for a staggering 9th win at the track, and try for his third straight win.