Kyle Busch returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for the NASCAR Pennzoil 400, using the race as an early test on intermediate tracks in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season. The NASCAR Las Vegas race gives the Richard Childress Racing driver a chance to measure his speed against the field at one of the series’ key venues.
Busch also remembers what happened in last year’s spring race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He started strong and showed top-five speed early, but a pit road mistake ended his chances to contend.
As he prepares for this weekend’s NASCAR Pennzoil 400, Busch hopes to repeat the pace his team showed in 2025 while avoiding the problems that cost them a strong finish.
Kyle Busch Uses the Pennzoil 400 Preview to Measure Speed
Busch said the Pennzoil 400 will help his team understand where it stands compared with the rest of the field on intermediate tracks.
“Yeah, just to kind of get a basis, I guess, of where you stack up against the field. Your setup here at Vegas is not the same as Kansas, Texas, Charlotte, or any of those.”
Busch explained that each intermediate track presents its own challenges, even if they share similar layouts and distances. Teams often use races like the NASCAR Pennzoil 400 to compare performance before heading to other similar tracks later in the season.
“You’re pretty different at each one of these race tracks that you go to, so trying to pinpoint what allows us to be quicker and what allows us to be further up the pylon to compete, that’s what we’ve got to work on here this weekend to get ourselves in tune with the rest of the year.”
Strong Pace in 2025 Ended With Pit Road Trouble
Busch pointed to last season’s spring race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as an example of the speed his team can bring to the track. He qualified fourth and ran near the front early in that NASCAR Las Vegas race.
However, the race changed once his team made its first pit stop. A loose wheel and a flat tire followed, dropping Busch in the running order and removing him from contention.
“Last year here, this race was really good for us. I thought we had really good speed. I think we qualified in the top 10 (fourth in fact). We were running fourth. We had a bad pit stop, and then we had a loose wheel, lost a tire, all that sort of stuff.”
Focus on Clean Execution This Weekend
This Kyle Busch Las Vegas race preview comes after the team showed strong pace at Las Vegas Motor Speedway NASCAR events last season, before pit road trouble changed the outcome.
Busch said the problems on pit road last year changed the direction of his team’s race. The mistakes erased the advantage they had built through strong qualifying and early-race pace.
“So it just kind of derailed after the first time we hit pit road. Can’t have all that happen. Hopefully, we can have some of the same speed that we had here and go from there.”
Busch and the Richard Childress Racing team now focus on combining last year’s speed with clean execution throughout Sunday’s NASCAR Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch Eyes Las Vegas Rebound Ahead of NASCAR Pennzoil 400