Larson sees off Reddick for first win of the season

While Larson statistically dominated the race – winning both of the opening stages and leading 181 of 267 laps – the end of each stage came down to a one-on-one battle between Larson and Reddick.

Larson led the way late in the final stage when a crash by Corey LaJoie brought out a caution and sent all the lead lap cars down into the pits for new tyres.

Laron got a big lead on the restart with 27 laps to go, but six laps later Reddick had moved into second and began to close the gap. Reddick got within several cars lengths as the race remained green to the finish, and Larson edged him by 0.441 seconds at the chequered flag.

“I knew Tyler was going to be the guy to beat from the first stage when he was really fast there,” said Larson, who took his young son and daughter for a victory ride in his #5 Chevrolet after the race.

“I was hoping those guys were going to get racing a little bit longer behind me because I thought it was going to time out to where he was running really hard.

“I thought he and Bubba [Wallace] were going to try to work together and build a run. So, I was happy that didn’t happen. All in all, just a great, great job by this team. Just the execution on pitroad, the restarts, all that was great.

“Cool to get a win here in Vegas again. Swept all the stages again. Can’t ask for much more.”

The win is the first for Larson this season and 24th of his career, while remarkably it is also the 10th win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Hendrick Motorsports and the fourth consecutive by an HMS driver in the tracks’ spring race.

Larson now leads the series standings by eight points over Blaney with Truex in third, 14 points behind Larson.

Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney ended up third, ahead of Ross Chastain in fourth and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Noah Gragson, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and William Byron.

NASCAR Cup – Las Vegas race results