LAS VEGAS — Five thoughts after Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway …

1. Taking Stock

When Max Verstappen won Saturday’s Formula One season opener by 22 seconds, he had a line that drew scoffs from fans: “In general, other teams are closer” this season than last, Verstappen claimed.

Yeah, right.

But when Kyle Larson crew chief Cliff Daniels said something similar after the No. 5 car led 181 laps during Sunday’s first traditional-style NASCAR race of the season — “the gap is actually tighter than what it may look on paper” — it seemed much more believable.

“We’re going to have to keep evolving pretty quick, because the more (Toyota and Ford) start to get their stuff figured out, the gap is going to get closed,” Daniels said. “To be honest, I know that winning both stages and winning the race, you would say we had the dominant day, but there were some cars that were pretty tough right there with us.”

Larson’s primary competition was a Toyota driven by Tyler Reddick, and Toyota was in its first “real” race with a new body — which left all Toyota teams guessing a bit on how that would affect their balance and handling. Denny Hamlin said it could be weeks or longer until Toyota develops a proper aero map — which is what engineers use to model a car’s performance in crucial simulation sessions.

So for Toyota to be so fast already at Las Vegas (it had four of the top eight finishers) was notable.

“The Toyotas’ pace was pretty impressive today,” Daniels said.

Ford was a factor as well, although perhaps not quite at the same level as Chevrolet and Toyota. Still, each of the three manufacturers placed a pair of cars in the top six finishers, which would seemingly indicate none have a significant advantage over the others.

“The Chevys are still fast, the Toyotas are still fast,” said Ford driver Ryan Blaney, who finished third. “The Fords, we had a good showing today, too, but we just have a little bit of work to do.”

The question may be if Chevrolet can do what Daniels suggested and continue to evolve its setups. It is the one manufacturer without a new car this season, and while familiarity with its platform may be useful for now, Chevy also may have less speed to find than the other two.

“The continuity of our stuff and the depth of our notes I think was really helpful for today,” Daniels said.

Left unsaid: That doesn’t mean it will be as helpful three months from now.

2. Fastest Car Tracker

Before the Vegas race, NASCAR stats guru Trey Ryan posted a fascinating graphic. Looking at the most recent 100 races for each of NASCAR’s top three series, plus IndyCar and F1, Ryan tracked how often the driver who leads the most laps actually wins the race.

How often does the driver that leads the most laps win the race?

Well, over the last 100 races: pic.twitter.com/UhVaWXaTGc

— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) March 2, 2024

It’s no surprise in F1, the dominant car won 81 percent of the time. But in the Cup Series? Only 39 percent, which trailed even Xfinity and Trucks (47 percent each).

Sunday’s fastest car was pretty obvious, since Larson led 68 percent of the laps and won the race after showing that same blazing speed in practice.

But given the Cup Series’ unkind ways toward fast cars, could Larson actually close it out?

While Reddick made him sweat at the end, Larson finally gave our own Fastest Car Tracker (which is based on perceived speed, not purely laps led) its first point of the season.

Fastest Car Score: Other Cars 3, Fastest Car 1

Fastest Cars by Driver: Larson 1, Todd Gilliland 1, Joey Logano 1, Ty Gibbs 1

3. Q&A

Each week in this space, we’ll pose one question and attempt to answer one question from the past.

Q: Is there hope for Stewart-Haas Racing?

Noah Gragson entered this season with the lowest of expectations from outsiders. Gragson had struggled in his half-season last year with Legacy Motor Club and was now driving a mostly unsponsored car for a Stewart-Haas Racing organization that was anticipated to have a poor performance across its four cars in 2024.

And yet there was Gragson on Sunday, standing on pit road at his home track after finishing sixth — his first career top-10 at a track other than Daytona and the second-best finish of his career in 42 starts.

“It’s cool to have more top-10s this year in three races than I’ve had my whole career,” Gragson said. “We’re going to keep building. It’s still early.”

Gragson entered Vegas with negative points, thanks to a 35-point penalty last week, and raced from 30th after a poor qualifying run. But the car had speed, and it was clear SHR teammate Chase Briscoe did as well until contact with Blaney changed that car’s handling.

It’s just one race, but perhaps things aren’t as bad as anticipated for SHR? We’ll find out soon enough.

“It’s a good stepping stone where we’re at right now,” Gragson said.

A: Last year in this space, we posed a question heading into the Phoenix race: Did NASCAR make any progress on its short-track package?

Honestly, we could probably rerun many of the same comments right here. The 2023 question was about a Phoenix offseason test to tweak the package, and now we have the same question heading into next week’s Phoenix race.

No pun intended, but spoiler alert: Last year’s reduced downforce package, which featured a tiny spoiler on the back of the car, didn’t do much to improve how the Next Gen car races on short tracks.

This year’s tweak concerns having the undertray produce less downforce, which drivers thought helped them get more racy during the test. Will it be effective?

We’ll channel Kevin Harvick’s 2023 quote about whether last year’s package would work and express doubt it will be “as effective as everybody hopes it would be.” Either way, it’s clear NASCAR knows short tracks are a problem and is trying to fix the racing there, as detailed in this story.

4. NASquirks

In NASCAR’s latest Show and Tell, officials displayed Joey Logano’s webbed glove that was discovered during qualifying at Atlanta. And it wasn’t just webbed between the thumb and forefinger; it was all the way across Logano’s hand.

It’s show and tell day in the NASCAR hauler. As you can see here, Logano’s entire glove was webbed. Not just between the thumb and finger. pic.twitter.com/eyuQbFDwfu

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) March 2, 2024

Logano seemed to bristle at multiple questions about the glove after he won the pole at Las Vegas and was clearly embarrassed by the whole thing. But we’re guessing virtually every driver in the field would have worn it had their team presented the concept to them.

“As a driver, you work with the team and — hey, I’m gonna take a portion of responsibility of that too, obviously,” Logano said. “I put the glove on. I didn’t build the glove or make it on my own. I can’t sew.”

Team owner Roger Penske told the Associated Press last week that he made it clear to Logano the glove was not a good look and he shouldn’t do something like that again. But aside from the in-race penalty at Atlanta, which was quickly erased by a caution, Logano only had a $10,000 fine.

So if that helped get the Daytona 500 pole …

“Teams are always trying to find that (gray area). Whatever (NASCAR is) not checking, they’re going to work on,” said Hamlin, who added he would “for sure” have worn the glove if his team had asked.

That said, drivers were mixed on whether the glove would have even made enough of a difference in qualifying to improve a position on the grid. And that included Logano, who lamented the pickup in speed as “probably nothing.”

“That’s the part that hurts the most — it isn’t even worth it,” Logano said. “It didn’t do anything to speak of. It’s directionally an area that everybody goes to try to block that hole (in the window net). You see everyone put their hand there. We just tried to cover more space.”

5. Five at No. 5

Our mini power rankings after Race No. 4/38:

1. Kyle Larson (last week: not ranked): We didn’t have Larson in our top five after the first few races? Oops. After Sunday, you could make a case for the beginning of a run where he’ll not only be on this list weekly, but stay in the No. 1 spot for awhile.

2. William Byron (last week: 2): If not for a plastic trash bag that ruined his track position, Byron looked to have the second-fastest car in practice and still recovered for a top-10 finish.

3. Ryan Blaney (last week: 3): The defending Cup champ led the way for the Fords and seems to be racing with a confident mindset again this season.

4. Kyle Busch (last week: 1): He was hurt by another pit road penalty that ruined his day but still showed some speed at the season’s first real race.

5. Tyler Reddick (last week: not ranked): It was impossible to ignore how fast Reddick was on Sunday. He barely finished second to Larson in both stages and the race itself. We often say this about the No. 45 team, but if it can clean up some mistakes … look out.

Dropped out: Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace.

GO DEEPER

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(Photo of Kyle Larson celebrating Sunday’s win: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)