The 2017 Kobalt 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on March 12, 2017, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. Contested over 267 laps on the asphalt intermediate speedway, it was the third race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 15 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Toyota 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Timmy Hill (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 55 Derrike Cope Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 72 Cole Whitt Tri-Star Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 83 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list

Practice

First practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.907 seconds and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 27.907 193.500 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 27.980 192.995 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.981 192.988Official first practice results

Second practice Chase Elliott was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.197 seconds and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime124Chase ElliottHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet28.197191.510242Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet28.599188.818320Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota28.633188.594Official second practice results

Final practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.630 seconds and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime178Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota28.630188.613224Chase ElliottHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet28.636188.574388Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet28.657188.436Official final practice results

Qualifying

Brad Keselowski scored the pole for the race with a time of 27.881 and a speed of . When asked how he accomplished this despite missing his mark in Turns 1 and 2 on his pole lap, he said he didn't "know what the answer is. I'll have to look through a bunch of data, and the smart guys -- the engineers and crew chiefs -- will probably point some of that stuff out to me. But, yeah, every time I looked at the tracker, the cars that were fast in 1 and 2 weren't in 3 and 4, and we were the opposite. We were really good in 3 and 4... but we'll take it either way."

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 12 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 27.923 27.961 27.881 278 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 28.000 27.921 27.913 321 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.084 27.814 27.920 420 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.039 27.883 27.923 542 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.018 27.907 27.956 622 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 27.975 28.033 27.959 75 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.120 27.924 27.960 877 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 27.934 28.032 28.071 918 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.831 27.982 28.072 101 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.123 28.032 28.072 1119 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.963 28.033 28.130 1224 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.007 27.890 28.266 1314 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 28.268 28.034 — 1427 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.288 28.062 — 1511 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.078 28.073 — 1648 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27.963 28.086 — 1741 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 28.043 28.112 — 1888 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.001 28.115 — 194 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 28.052 28.169 — 206 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.192 28.178 — 2131 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.180 28.195 — 223 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.155 28.268 — 2347 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 28.316 28.326 — 2413 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 28.306 28.592 — 2537 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 28.336 — — 2695 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 28.361 — — 2734 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.390 — — 2810 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 28.428 — — 2917 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.488 — — 3043 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.511 — — 3132 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 28.752 — — 3238 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.921 — — 3372 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 29.071 — — 3483 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.102 — — 3523 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.188 — — 3633 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 29.569 — — 3715 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Toyota 29.950 — — 3855 Derrike Cope Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 30.428 — — 3951 Timmy Hill (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 30.879 — —Official qualifying results

Race Stage 1 Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 3:48 p.m. He pulled away from Martin Truex Jr. in the opening laps, but Truex started reeling him back in around lap 12. The first caution of the race flew on lap 18 when Corey LaJoie slammed the wall in Turn 2. He went on to finish last. Truex exited pit road with the race lead.

The race restarted on lap 25. Keselowski, restarting on the outside lane, powered by Truex on the backstretch to take back the lead on the restart. Exiting the tri-oval, Kevin Harvick suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall, bringing out the second caution on lap 68. After leaving the infield care center, he said that the tire "started vibrating about four or five laps there before it blew out, and I was just trying to ride it to the end of the stage there. Obviously, it didn’t make it.” Joey Logano opted not to pit and took the lead.

The race restarted on lap 75. Truex, on four new tires, passed Logano with ease on the backstretch to retake the lead. He won the first stage and the third caution flew for the conclusion of the stage. Truex decided to stay out, having pitted under the previous caution.

Stage 2 The race restarted on lap 88. It settled into a green run that was interrupted by a cycle of green flag stops beginning on lap 125. Truex pitted from the lead the following lap. Keselowski pitted from the lead the next lap. Ty Dillon pitted from the lead on lap 129 and handed the lead to Michael McDowell. Truex passed McDowell in Turn 1 to cycle back to the lead on lap 131. Kyle Busch was handed a pass through penalty for speeding on pit road.

The fourth caution flew on lap 152 when Derrike Cope spun out in Turn 2. Jimmie Johnson inherited the lead after electing not to pit.

The race restarted on lap 156. Truex, on four new tires, passed Johnson with ease exiting Turn 2 on the restart to retake the lead. He won the second stage and the fifth caution flew for the conclusion of the stage.

Final stage

The race restarted with 100 laps to go. Kurt Busch made an unscheduled stop with 66 to go to make a battery change. Truex pitted with 57 to go and Johnson took the lead. He stayed out for 17 laps hoping for a caution, but didn't get one, pitted with 40 to go and Truex regained the lead. Keselowski passed Chase Elliott for second with 34 to go and set his sights on Truex. He passed Truex in Turn 3 to retake the lead with 23 to go. The sixth caution flew with 16 to go when Danica Patrick's engine expired on the frontstretch. She said her team "got the car to a place where I [thought] we could have got a little more racy with it, especially if we would have caught some breaks, but then it just flattened out. I just rode around the top in case I blew up, but having a teammate behind me was not ideal for the timing of it, but unfortunately it happened. We'll just move on.” The leaders all pitted under the caution and Keselowski remained the leader.

The race restarted with nine to go. Keselowski pulled away on the restart and had the win in check, but suffered a part failure with two to go and dropped off pace. Truex passed him on the backstretch and scored the victory.

Post-race

Final lap and brawl On the final lap, Keselowski's car fell back through the field. Kyle Busch veered to the bottom to avoid him and made contact with Logano. In Turn 3, Logano got loose, hit Busch and sent him spinning through Turn 4 and down onto pit road. Busch got out of his car, proceeded to the staging area where the top-five cars are captured after the race, usually at the entrance of pit road, threw a punch at Logano and a brawl broke out on pit road. It lasted roughly 18 seconds before officials broke it up.

Logano said after everything settled down that there wasn't much talking as "swinging", and that he was just "racing hard there at the end with our Pennzoil Ford. Kyle and I usually race really well together. We usually never have any issues, and he tried to pin me down into the corner underneath Brad and we about crashed on entry, and then I was still trying to gather it up by the center and I was gonna spin out, so I’m trying to chase it up and he was there. It obviously wasn’t anything intentional, but obviously he thinks that, so, I don’t know, we’ll get by.”

Busch saw it differently, telling Vince Welch of Fox Sports that he "got dumped. (Logano) flat-out just drove straight in the corner and wrecked me. That's how Joey races, so he's going to get it."

Driver comments Truex said in victory lane that his team "definitely had [their] share of races where we've dominated and gave one away, and it looked like today was going to be another one of those. The runs just didn't work out the way we needed them. We were struggling on the really long runs. We had to run that last set of tires on that last caution longer than we did all race long. From Lap 211 until caution for Danica Patrick's blown engine on Lap 252, I was out of control and Brad was really good on the long run. I hate that he had problems. He was strong and we weren't going to do anything with him, but then he lost the brakes or something. A little bit of a gift, but we've given some away, so it feels good to come out on the good end for once."

Keselowski, who finished fifth, said his team will "have to take [the car] apart (to discover the source of the part failure), it has to go through inspection. I just know it was something major. It wouldn't turn, and I lost the brakes, so it's a pretty good indicator.”

Race results

Stage results

Stage 1 Laps: 80