The 2010 Shelby American at Las Vegas was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series motor race that was held on February 28, 2010 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada as the third race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The race consisted of 267 laps,
The race began with Kurt Busch, from Penske Racing, on the pole. During the race there were ten different leaders, twenty lead changes, and seven cautions. Jimmie Johnson, from Hendrick Motorsports, ended up winning the 2010 Shelby American while Kevin Harvick finished 2nd and Jeff Gordon finished third after leading the most laps (219).
Race report
Practices and qualifying
In the first practice session on February 26, the fastest were Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon. During qualifying runs, Kurt Busch ran the fastest lap with a speed of and a time of 28.614 seconds to be on the pole position, while Casey Mears and Terry Cook failed to qualify. In the second practice session, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann, and Clint Bowyer were the fastest. In final practice Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, and Marcos Ambrose were the fastest. Unlike the first two practice sessions, final practice had one red flag because Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun to pit road.
Race summary On February 28, 2010, at 3 p.m. EST, Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Chaplain Joe Freiburger said the invocation. Afterward, America's Got Talent winner Terry Fator sang the national anthem. Carroll Shelby and Kim Kardashian gave the command "Gentlemen, start your engines!" for the race.
On the start, Kurt Busch led the field to the green flag. On the same lap, Jeff Gordon passed Kurt Busch for the lead. On lap 2, Kevin Conway collided with the wall; to cause the first caution. On lap 5, Gordon led the field to the green flag. After the restart, the field became spread out, but on lap 45, Mike Bliss collided with the wall to bring out the second caution. The restart happened on lap 52, with Gordon leading. One lap later, Greg Biffle passed Gordon, and the third caution came out. The third caution came out because the caution lights did not turn off. On the lap 56 restart, Biffle led the field to the green flag, but one lap later, Gordon reclaimed the lead.
The race then experienced a 30 lap run that ended because Sam Hornish Jr. spun to bring out the fourth caution. All the leaders pitted, but the first one off pit road was Matt Kenseth. On lap 92, Kenseth led them down for the restart. One lap later, though, the fifth caution came out because Jamie McMurray collided with Juan Pablo Montoya. A. J. Allmendinger was also involved in the accident. The restart happened on lap 97 with Kenseth still the leader, but on lap 98, Gordon passed him. On lap 107, the sixth caution came out because the caution lights inadvertently turned on. Most lead lap cars made their pit stop, but Scott Speed stayed out to become the leader.
On lap 113, Speed led the field to the green flag. Also, on the restart, Speed had a horrible start, that caused Gordon to pass him. From lap 113 to 228, a long green flag run happened. On lap 158, green flag pit stops began. During the pit stops the leaders were Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart. Afterwards, the top-five drivers were Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and Harvick. Then on lap 212, green flag pit stops happened again. After the pit stops the leader was Gordon. On lap 228, the seventh caution came out because Conway collided with the wall. Bowyer stayed off pit road to lead on the restart. Immediately after the start, on lap 233, Gordon reclaimed the lead. On lap 251, Johnson passed Gordon for the lead. Johnson kept the lead to win his second consecutive race in 2010.
Race results Pos Car Driver Team Make 148 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 229 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 324 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 45 Mark Martin Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 517 Matt Kenseth Roush–Fenway Racing Ford 620 Joey Logano Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 714 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas RacingChevrolet 833 Clint Bowyer Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 99 Kasey Kahne Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 1016 Greg Biffle Roush–Fenway Racing Ford 1131 Jeff Burton Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1299 Carl Edwards Roush–Fenway Racing Ford 1300 David Reutimann Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 1447 Marcos Ambrose JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota 1518 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 1688 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 1798 Paul Menard Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 1839 Ryan Newman Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 1911 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2056 Martin Truex Jr. Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 2178 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 2282 Scott Speed Red Bull Racing Team Toyota 236 David Ragan Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2434Travis Kvapil Front Row Motorsports Ford 2543A. J. Allmendinger Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 2612Brad Keselowski Penske Championship Racing Dodge 2719Elliott Sadler Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 2877Sam Hornish Jr. Penske Championship Racing Dodge 2966Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota 3038David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 3183Brian Vickers Red Bull Racing Toyota 327Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Motorsports Toyota 3313Max Papis Germain Racing Toyota 341Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 352Kurt Busch Penske Championship Racing Dodge 3637Kevin ConwayFront Row Motorsports Ford 3742Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 3871Bobby Labonte TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 3936Mike Bliss Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 4026Boris Said Latitude 43 Motorsports Ford 4187Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 4255Michael McDowell Prism Motorsports Toyota 4309Aric Almirola Phoenix Racing Chevrolet
References