This Monday we head to the desert to visit the 1.5 miles tri-oval intermediate speedway in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The Home of the Neon Garage. After a thrilling week in Atlanta, it’s time to test the drivers on their speedway abilities, tire regulation and pit strategy.

With 20 degrees of banking in the turns and 9 degrees of banking on the tracks front stretch and back stretch it will race much differently then the first two races of the season. We will see drivers using every inch of this track to find grip, speed and passing lanes.

Photos courtesy of iRacing

Drivers to watch:

Harley Barletta – Another solid race for Barletta has him at the top of the power rankings again this week. He left Atlanta with 55 points on the day and led the most laps of the race with 31. Can anyone slow Barletta as his dominating start of the season continues on the road to Las Vegas.

Garrett Hummel – The second race of the season showed exactly how strong Hummel is as a driver. He left Atlanta with 50 points on the day, only second to Harley Harletta. Hummel finished second by only -0.091 seconds to part time drier Teejay Handley spoiling what could have been a sure victory and early playoff birth for Hummel. He is a driver to watch going into Las Vegas.

Domenic Previte – After missing the season opener, Previte showed up and showed out. He took home a 3rd place finish at Atlanta and held one of the faster lap times of the day. Can Domenic carry that speed and momentum to Las Vegas? I’m willing to gamble on that.

Eric Wolfe – Coming off a 4th place finish at Daytona, Wolfe carried his speed and momentum into Atlanta where he qualified 2nd place to start. Wolfe had a day he was quoted as being “Not proud of” as he ended up finishing 6th after leading some laps earlier in the day and having solid stage finishes. Wolfe looks to stay in the top 5 next week at Las Vegas.

Joe Tardif – Tardif laid down an impressive lap time tying with another driver on our power rankings this week, Eric Wolfe. Both drivers had a 31.424 lap time. This shows how consistent and fast Tardif can be. He found himself up front all race and finished right behind Wolfe in 7th. With the last two weeks of performances on track, we believe this Toyota will be upfront again this week.

Race information:
Las Vegas Speedway – 8:30pm Session Start

67 Laps
Stage 1 – 15
Stage 2 – 35
Finish – 67

50% Fuel
3 Sets of tires
1 Fast repair