LAS VEGAS RACE REPORT

Race 3 of 33: Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Track Specs: 1.5-mile tri-oval / 200 laps
Weather: Sunny; 74 deg.
Race Winner: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Whitt’s finish:  6^th

Cole Whitt landed his second top-10 finish in three races to lead the JR Motorsports teams in Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Whitt and the TaxSlayer.com team raced as high as third after overcoming a mishap in practice that forced the team to repair cosmetic damages to their machine prior to qualifying.  The 20-year-old took full advantage of a pair of restarts to finish sixth, earning him Sunoco Rookie of the Race honors.

Cole Whitt, driver No. 88 TaxSlayer.com team
“I’ve learned more in these first three races than probably in my career so far. It has been wild and I just wish for a little less drama for these next couple ones.  I mean, first with Daytona, then getting into the wall in practice. But these guys did a great job on our TaxSlayer Chevrolet. They got it fixed up. Nobody really gave up, which is awesome.

“It wasn’t easy.  We had a little bit of a rough qualifying lap. That’s what was cool about it.  The team really stuck behind me and we worked hard and got all the way up to the top three there at the end.  I’ve got to thank Pops and everybody at JR Motorsports. It’s been great.”