Kenseth wins at Vegas

Matt Kenseth won the Kobalt Tools 400 today in Las Vegas.

Working his way steadily through the field, Kenseth finally got in front via some cautions and held off hard charging Kasey Kahne to get the win. Kahne definitely had the best car, but Kenseth put on a blocking school for the young driver and got the victory.

A few thoughts on the race, the broadcast, and NASCAR itself:

With three races in, one thing is clear -- the Gen 6 cars do not lend themselves to any sort of drafting. Expect NASCAR to tweak the aero package at some point because the races have become not unlike road course outings. Once you get in front, no one can pass you unless you make a mistake. The tipoff should have been at Daytona, when uber crew chief Chad Knaus had driver Jimmie Johnson working on solo speed instead of practicing drafting. Knaus somehow figured out ahead of time that the cars wouldn't draft. Without fixing that, racing is going to be sort of dull.

The broadcast was pretty decent until Michael Waltrip made a verbal gaffe about strategery and then likened the gaffe to a faux Palinism.

*groan*

That was quickly followed up by Chris Meyers making a joke about "seeing the finish line from Russia"

*double groan*

Give it a rest, boys. Leave the Palin jokes to liberals. Okay?

During the race they had a commercial for NAPA, featuring the talking "NAPA know how" cans. The first one of these was fairly mild, but the one today had me laughing out loud. Patrick Warburton as the voice of the dueling cans -- one for NASCAR and one for NHRA, arguing about who's a real racer then turning on Michael Waltrip and telling him his can is old . . . I was laughing so hard I didn't even hear what the third can was saying. That was a better commercial than anything that popped up at the Super Bowl :-)