Denny Hamlin led a race-high 134 laps to take home Sunday’s running of the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday (March 15). But it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver as Hamlin had to overcome a stage two speeding penalty and a hard-charging Chase Elliott.
Eric Schneck and Michael Bellifemini discuss Hamlin’s dominating display at Las Vegas as well as break down Hendrick Motorsports’ performance, which saw Elliott make a late charge and Kyle Larson lead 62 laps en route to a disappointing seventh-place finish.
Also joining Schneck and Bellifemini are Frontstretch‘s own Bryan Nolen and Kevin Nix, reporting from the track at Las Vegas. Nolen and Nix break down Toyota’s performance on Sunday as well as touch on Ross Chastain vs. Daniel Suarez.
Finally, Schneck and Bellifemini break down Connor Zilisch‘s accident with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Gibbs‘ solid start to the year, and the points standings coming out of Las Vegas.
There’s a lot to talk about and not a lot of time to do it. Check out Stock Car Scoop on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts!
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.
Bryan Nolen is the Operations Manager and Multimedia Director for Frontstretch.com. He also hosts the Bringing the Heat with Bryan Nolen Podcast and occasionally makes appearances on The Happy Hour Podcast. He has a Sportscasting degree from the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting. He resides in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, his French Bulldog Archer and two rabbits.
Follow him on Twitter @TheBryanNolen
Kevin Nix has been with Frontstretch since February 2023. Hailing from Gilbert, Arizona, his dream is to be in the NASCAR media sphere full-time. He is a video assistant, working on the back end to streamline video and audio quality of all at-track interviews. Nix also writes about news every Monday for the site.
Nix graduated with a Master's Degree in Sports Journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona. He also has bachelor's degrees in Communications and Political Science. In his downtime, he likes to read, play video games and take walks in the Arizona weather - when it's not too hot.