Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, led the way for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by finishing 11th in the Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 33rd.
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet for SHR, finished 38th. Newman’s car suffered an engine failure, and he completed only 234 of 267 laps.
Matt Kenseth won the Kobalt Tools 400 to score his 25th career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his third at Las Vegas. Kenseth celebrated his 41st birthday Sunday and became the third driver in Sprint Cup history to win on his birthday. Cale Yarborough accomplished it twice, while Kyle Busch did it once.
Kasey Kahne, who led six times for a race-high 114 laps, finished .594 of a second behind Kenseth in the runner-up spot, while Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Paul Menard comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were five caution periods for 25 laps, with five drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
With round three of 36 complete, Stewart leads the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He is 18th, 57 points behind series leader Johnson. Patrick is 30th, 76 points out of first. Newman is 31st, 79 points behind Johnson.
Patrick, who is competing for Rookie of the Year honors against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., finished 15 spots behind Stenhouse, who placed 18th.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Food City 500 Sunday, March 17 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.
