Las Vegas is known for many things. You know, casinos, nightlife, 34,000 gambling references made during NASCAR race weekends (only a couple of which came from me).
What it isn't especially known for is exciting, nail-biting racing. However, it appears NASCAR has taken a big step toward competitive balance, and that was on display in Vegas over the weekend, the first race with the new rules package fully in place.
Take what NASCAR's stat guru, Mike Forde, tweeted after Sunday's race. He pointed out that the race had 47 green-flag passes for the lead (not just official lead changes taking place at the start/finish line) and 3,345 total green-flag passes.
Both of those mark the most in a single race at Las Vegas since the inception of loop data for the 2005 season.
Now, take this into account. Competitive racing is often looked at through the lens of lead changes and margin of victory. Sunday's margin was .236 seconds, as Brad Keselowski's last-lap charge at teammate Joey Logano came up just short. All three races this season have had margins of victory under a quarter-second. That's the first time a season has started that way since NASCAR instituted electronic scoring in 1993.
Here are some of the drivers whose stats stood out this weekend:
Putting Joey Logano in perspective
Joey Logano won his 22nd career race on Sunday. That tied him with Terry Labonte for 35th on the all-time list, and moved him past drivers like Benny Parsons and Bobby Labonte.
To put that in perspective, Logano is 28 years old. Terry Labonte's 22nd win came when he was 46.
Next up on the wins list is Ricky Rudd with 23. Rudd was 45 years old when he picked up his 23rd win.
Logano came into the series so young, it's easy to forget that he's under 30. With 22 wins, Logano is tied with Junior Johnson for the fourth-most wins by a driver before turning 30.
With more than a year before he turns 30, he has a chance to catch Kyle Busch (29) for the third-most. But he's unlikely to break into the top two, as Richard Petty had 60 wins before turning 30, and Jeff Gordon had 55.
Kurt Busch adds to his resume
Kurt Busch picked up his second top-five finish in three races since joining Chip Ganassi Racing, an impressive effort fueled by pit strategy and hard racing considering his qualifying position and the hole that Chevrolet finds itself in this early in the season (Busch was the only one in the top eight).
Ganassi is the sixth team that Busch has picked up a top-five finish for, joining Roush Fenway Racing, Team Penske, Phoenix Racing, Furniture Row Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing.
Dating to 1980, Busch is one of just five drivers who have collected at least 100 top-five finishes while collecting at least one for six or more teams.
The others: former teammate Mark Martin, Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd and Geoff Bodine.
Kyle Busch nears a trifecta
OK, that's my last gambling reference, promise. Unless I'm actually talking about gambling.
Busch won Friday's Truck Series race and Saturday's Xfinity Series race in his hometown of Las Vegas, and nearly came back to win the Cup race on Sunday, still picking up a top-five finish.
Busch is the only driver to win in all three series in a single weekend, doing so in both 2010 and 2017 at Bristol. He didn't pull that off, but it was the 16th time he's had a top-five finish in all three series in a weekend.
All other drivers have combined to do so three times, and none more than once each. If you want to stump your friends, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Terry Labonte are the other drivers to pull off a triple top-five finish.