After first-time winners each of the past two weeks, will the streak continue in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway? Or will a veteran return to Victory Lane?
Either way, it will be a different winner than last year. Chase Briscoe, now in the Cup Series, swept both Xfinity races at Las Vegas last year.
Myatt Snider, who won last weekend at Miami, starts on the pole. He’s joined on the front row by reigning series champion Austin Cindric, who won the season opener at Daytona. Ty Gibbs, who won in his first series start last month on the Daytona road course, is not entered in this event.
Details for Saturday’s Las Vegas Xfinity race:
(All times are Eastern)
START: NBA player Joe Ingles of the Western Conference-leading Utah Jazz will give the command to start engines at 4:27 p.m. ... The green flag is scheduled to wave at 4:38 p.m.
PRERACE: Garage opens at 10 a.m. ... Drivers report to their vehicles at 4 p.m. ... Driver introductions are at 4:05 p.m. ... The invocation will be given at 4:19 p.m. by Motor Racing Outreach’s Billy Mauldin. ... The national anthem will be performed by the cast of “Friends: The Musical Parody” at 4:20 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 200 laps (300 miles) on the 1.5-mile speedway
STAGES: Stage 1 ends at Lap 45. Stage 2 ends at Lap 90.
TV/RADIO: FS1 will broadcast the race at 4:30 p.m. Its coverage begins at 4 p.m. ... Performance Racing Network’s radio coverage begins at 4 p.m. and will stream at goprn.com; SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the broadcast.
STREAMING: FS1
FORECAST: The wunderground.com forecast calls for sunny skies with a high of 76 degrees with a zero percent chance of rain at race start.
LAST YEAR: Chase Briscoe won both races. Noah Gragson was second and Daniel Hemric placed third in the September race. Austin Cindric was second and Ryan Sieg was third in the February race.
STARTING LINEUP: Las Vegas Xfinity starting lineup