Carl Edwards Wins Kobalt Tools 400 In Las Vegas Ahead Of Tony Stewart

There’s a tie atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings after Las Vegas, with race runnerup Tony Stewart tied with Vegas native Kurt Busch, who was formerly second.

Ex-points-leader Kyle Busch plummeted a whopping 13 spots to 14th in the standings, while Jeff Gordon fell 14 spots to 19th.

You already know the results from Sunday’s NASCAR race in Las Vegas. But let’s look at how the teams with three or more cars fared as an organization:

Richard Childress Racing

Carl Edwards got into the Las Vegas spirit after his race win on Sunday, channeling the persona of a Vegas lounge comedian.

Edwards cracked several jokes in his post-race media session that caused the room to erupt in laughter. At the risk of potential you-had-to-be-there moments, here are some of Edwards’ funnier quotes:

As expected, Tony Stewart was one unhappy camper after his awesome car at Las Vegas resulted in only a second-place finish – despite “Smoke” leading a race-high 163 laps.

“Second sucks,” Stewart said, calling his car “the fastest thing on the planet” and “the baddest thing on the West Coast today.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sprung from his car, greeted crew chief Steve Letarte and a couple crew members with handshakes and pats on the back, then approached a pair of reporters.

“How about that!?” he said, seeming like he was ready to do a cartwheel. “We’ll see if we can keep it going.”

Edwards’ two-tire pit call on the final stop helped him beat Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman, who rounded out the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.

Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne rolled in 20th, while last week’s winner, Jeff Gordon, crashed and finished 36th. Kyle Busch dealt with a flat tire and engine trouble, winding up a disappointing 38th. Matt Kenseth, the pole-sitter, nearly finished in the top 10, but came up just short.

It’s race day for the third event of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season, and we’re expecting a beautiful day in Las Vegas. The green flag is scheduled for 3:16 p.m. Eastern and the race will be televised on Fox.

When you’re watching from home today, make sure you chat with us right here on SBNation.com. You can simply type your comments in the section below and click the auto-refresh button to see comments from other fans as they get posted.

Good morning from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the Kobalt Tools 400 is a few hours away. Here’s a quick viewer’s guide if you’re planning on watching the NASCAR race today.

First of all, the race is scheduled to begin at 3:16 p.m. Eastern time. So if you want to avoid all the pre-race show stuff and just tune in for the race, the expected green-flag time is 3:16 (which is 12:16 p.m. local time).

Mark Martin’s fuel mileage and Brad Keselowski’s ill-timed flat tire on the last lap allowed Martin – NASCAR’s all-time leader in Nationwide Series wins – to add another to his tally.

Martin won the Nationwide race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, with Justin Allgaier second and Keselowski third.

Robby Gordon has been placed on immediate probation for an unspecified period after a post-qualifying incident in the Sprint Cup Series garage Friday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR wouldn’t specifically say what Gordon did, but described its probation move as an “emergency action.”

A frustrated Dale Earnhardt Jr. said his No. 88 team fell behind in practice and never recovered, which ultimately resulted in a disappointing 33rd-place starting position for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“I wasn’t prepared as a driver, and we could probably do a little bit more on speed with the car,” Earnhardt Jr. said, visibly displeased. “Those two things together cost us a little bit of time today.”

Matt Kenseth isn’t known as being a good qualifier. But when he has power under his hood like the Fords do this year, it doesn’t matter.

Kenseth won the pole for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading a strong contingent of Ford-powered cars in the starting lineup.

Carl Edwards said he and Kyle Busch “will be fine” after the two drivers spoke about last week’s incident at Phoenix, which wrecked Edwards’ car.

Busch had apologized profusely after the accident – including during the race – but Edwards wasn’t in a forgiving mood. He at first believed Busch acted intentionally, and remained angry until Busch explained his side of the story in Las Vegas.

AJ Allmendinger hasn’t had much luck at Las Vegas – at least at the racetrack. While we have no idea how Allmendinger does in the casinos, the stats show ‘Dinger has plenty of room for improvement at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After failing to qualify for the Vegas race in each of his first two seasons, he finished 33rd in 2009 and 25th last year. Suffice it to say, Allmendinger is hoping for a better showing in 2011.

On Sunday, Mark Martin will move into sole possession of No. 2 on the all-time NASCAR starts list – just 133 behind leader Richard Petty.

Martin trails Michael Waltrip by one start entering this weekend, but plans to do both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Las Vegas, meaning he’ll tie and surpass Waltrip.