NASCAR Las Vegas Motor Speedway results: Martin Truex Jr. wins 2017 Kobalt 400

Brad Keselowski was out front and pulling away, seemingly headed to victory in Sunday’s NASCAR race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Then suddenly a parts failure caused Keselowski to slow, allowing Martin Truex Jr. to catch and pass him with two laps remaining in the Kobalt 400.

The victory was Truex’s first of the season and eighth of his career. Kyle Larson finished second, with Chase Elliott third and Joey Logano fourth. Keselowski, who started on the pole and led 89 laps, slid to fifth. He was seeking his second consecutive Monster Energy Cup Series win at Las Vegas.

“We finally got some [good luck],” Truex said. “We definitely had our share of races where we’ve dominated and gave one away and it looked like today was going to be another one of those.

“I hate that (Keselowski) had problems, he was strong and we weren’t going to do anything with him, but then he lost the brakes or something. A little bit of a gift, but we have given some away, so it feels good to come out on the good end for once.”

Truex dominated for much of the afternoon, leading a race-high 150 laps and winning the first and second stages. But Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford was stronger at the finish, passing Truex for the lead with 24 laps remaining and maintaining it after a restart with eight laps left following a caution for a blown engine on Danica Patrick’s car.

Keselowski wasn’t sure what broke on his car, though he initially believed it was something related to the rear suspension. Crew chief Paul Wolfe later told Performance Racing Network a front hub was the culprit for Keselowski slowing. A week ago, Keselowski capitalized to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway when race leader Kevin Harvick sped on pit road and was penalized with 14 laps remaining.

“It’s frustrating, but you put yourself in position to win and good things will happen,” Keselowski said. “That happened to us last week and didn’t happen this week, so you just pick up the pieces and move on. Luckily, they’re really big pieces. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.”

As Truex celebrated on the front stretch, a fight involving Logano, Kyle Busch, and members of Logano’s No. 22 team took place on pit road. Upset over contact with Logano on the final lap that sent him spinning off Turn 4, Busch threw a punch at Logano before being taken to the ground by several crew members. After being pulled from the pile by a NASCAR official, Busch was shown with a cut on his forehead.

“Kyle and I usually race really well together,” Logano said. “We usually never have any issues, and he tried to pin me down into the corner underneath Brad and we about crashed on entry, and then I was still trying to gather it up by the center and I was gonna spin out, so I’m trying to chase it up and he was there. It obviously wasn’t anything intentional, but obviously he thinks that.”

Logano and Busch were racing for position when Logano went underneath Busch entering Turn 3 before washing up the track and into Busch, causing him to spin. Logano said the contact was a byproduct of hard racing and not intentional. Busch finished 22nd.

“I got dumped,” Busch said. “Flat-out wrecked me. That’s how Joey races. He’s going to get it.”

Harvick appeared early as if he would challenge for the win, quickly climbing into the top 10 after qualifying 19th. But a blown right-front tire sent him crashing hard into the frontstretch wall on Lap 70, severely damaging his No. 4 car.

The 2014 series champion was uninjured, though he did take a few moments to gather himself following the heavy impact. Afterward, Harvick voiced his displeasure with how long it took the safety team to reach his disabled car that sat parked just before the entrance to Turn 1.

“It started vibrating about four or five laps there before it blew out, and I was just trying to ride it to the end of the stage there,” Harvick said. “Obviously, it didn’t make it. The worst part was the medical response. It took them forever to get to the car. I thought we made that better, but obviously we haven’t.”