So what happened in Vegas? Earnhardt Jr. started in 12th and managed to have a strong run.  He’s collected three top 10 finishes in the firs three races, I’d say it’s a solid start to the season- and the potential for Earnhardt Jr. to win soon is there. I’d keep Jr. in your fantasy picks for a couple of weeks.

The battle throughout the race was fierce. Kasey Kahne was the dominate driver with the most laps led, (total of 113 out of 267) he, and teammate Jimmie Johnson fought for the lead in the beginning-and Johnson held his own; finishing in sixth respectably.  Earnhardt finished seventh.

Kahne fought hard for the entire race- Kyle Busch was a threat for awhile. The loss for Kahne became obvious in the final 30 laps when he had to hold out a little longer on pit road to avoid colliding with the No. 14 Chevy piloted by Tony Stewart (By the way, Smoke finished in 11th position.)

One reason why many fans may love Kahne is because of his positive attitude, even in losses, "It was exciting," Kahne told press in a post race conference, "It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed driving the car today and thought the pace was up. I’ve never had great cars here, I’ve had some pretty good ones, but today I’ve never driven that hard for 267 laps before, either."

The No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevy restarted in sixth and charged to the front, he was held off by Kenseth for the final ten laps.

“Matt did everything right,” said Kahne. “That’s when I caught him, I was like, man, this is not the guy you want to have to race with 10 to go because he’s going to do everything right. You’re going to have to figure out how to squeeze by him. And you know he had a fast car, too, so it was difficult. He did a perfect job and we came back second. But still a good run. I think we were seventh maybe after that one restart and fought back to second, so we had a great car, did everything right. We just didn’t quite get there.”

I am getting used to seeing Kenseth in a bright yellow No. 20 Toyota, and seeing him with his new manager Joe Gibbs, instead of the 17 Ford with Jack Roush. This marks Kenseth’s first win with Joe Gibbs racing, I’d say that makes for a very happy 41stbirthday. 

"Pretty proud to be driving this car," said Kenseth, "I put a lot of pressure on myself to come in here to perform." 

It's only been three weeks since the team has been on the track- but Kenseth's crew chief Jason Ratcliff says, "I knew this day would come, but to do it just in our third race is really special obviously."