Who Was Lucky and Unlucky in Nationwide Vegas Race?

In one of the wildest, and longest, races in the Nationwide series, luck was with some drivers and not with others.  Stranger still, some drivers vacillated as wildly as the race cars during this race between being lucky and unlucky.

The luckiest of all at today's race in Las Vegas was race winner Greg Biffle.  This race win for the Biff finally broke a 76-race winless streak for him and his team.

Biffle was battling flu-like symptoms throughout the race.  He also had major troubles on the track, including a pit road speeding penalty and running out of gas towards the end of the race.

But he was able to battle back, especially after mishaps by several of the other unlucky leaders, to take the win on a green, white, checkered finish. Biffle's crew chief Eddie Pardue summed up the race win perfectly with just a few simple words, "what a crazy race!"

Carl Edwards was also one of the lucky ones at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Edwards almost got around Biffle on the last lap, but got loose and had to back it down to finish in the second spot.

Edwards also had a mixture of luckiness and unluckiness throughout the race.  On lap 99, he had a tire go down, spun and limped to the pits on his inner liner. 

Although that little adventure put Edwards' No. 60 car a lap down, he was able to regain his position, again helped by the attrition of others, to a decent second-place showing.

Brian Vickers, the third-place finisher, also had an eventful day.  Vickers hung around the front of the race most of the day.

But with 37 laps to go, Vickers went to pit and unfortunately his pit crew missed one lug nut.  Vickers had to return to pit road, losing a great deal of track position.

Fortunately, luck was with Vickers and he was able to rebound.  He battled his way back to the front, often going three wide, to finish in the third position.

Other lucky drivers included fourth-place finisher Jason Leffler.  He held on to finish basically running out of gas just before taking the checkered flag.

Another lucky driver was Dale Earnhardt Jr.  He too had some adventures on pit road, as well as tangling with Steve Wallace during his wreck. Junior was able to finally bring the car home in the fifth spot.

Michael McDowell was certainly a lucky driver in Vegas.  McDowell was lucky off the track as well, as just last week he became a dad for the first time. 

This was only McDowell's third start ever in a Nationwide race.  Yet his luck continued with a sixth-place finish in the Sam's Town 300.

Brendan Gaughan was lucky, then unlucky, then lucky again.  But that is to be expected for this Las Vegas native and son of one of the local hotel and casino owners.

Brendan had a strong car and was racing well, however, did his best Joey Chitwood imitation, spinning down pit road and into this pit stall.

Unfortunately, Brendan was not only spinning but speeding as well, getting docked with a penalty.  Yet, he again was luckily able to rally, finishing in the seventh position.

Rookie Justin Allgaier had a great race car.  This most recent past ARCA champion from Riverton, Ill., ran strong all race long.

At one point as Allgaier was passing Denny Hamlin, Denny keyed his radio to say, "Holy cow, that No. 12 car is fast!"

But then the bad luck bit Justin as well.  With less than 30 laps to go, he scraped the wall and had to come to pit road for repairs.

Justin managed to get back out on track with fresh tires and, with a renewed sense of urgency, began flying past other cars.  At one point, he flew around several cars, taking the field three wide.

Allgaier and Vickers also traded a few bumps back and forth on the last laps of the race.  Justin was able to rebound to finish in the eighth position.

Scott Lagasse Jr., another rookie, and veteran Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10 lucky finishers.

There were more unlucky than lucky drivers, however, on the track at Vegas.  On lap seven of the race, Denny Hamlin spun, hitting Mike Bliss and Brad Keselowski.  All three of these drivers would go on to have tremendously unlucky days.

Mike Bliss probably had the worst luck of all.  After his early race problems, he went into the wall on lap 85.  The damage from his earlier wreck had cut a tire down.

But there was even more bad luck to come for Mike Bliss.  With just a few more laps to run in the race, Denny Hamlin cut a right front tire down and went screaming into the wall.

Mike Bliss had nowhere to go, ran full tilt into Hamlin, jacking up Hamlin's car to his hood.  Both Hamlin and Bliss wrecked hard into the wall, with Denny's car bursting into flames.

Hamlin's car was truly toast, completely burned and battered.  Mike Bliss could only limp out of his car, saying that was a very "weird day."  He continued, saying "this ends a day I don't understand.  I can't wait to go home".

Other strong cars with no luck at all were pole sitter Scott Speed and Kyle Busch.  Both had fast race cars but on lap 23, Kyle Busch hit hard into the wall, collecting Speed who again simply had nowhere to go.

Kyle said it was "my fault."  He continued, saying "I was racing too hard for that part of the race."  The Busch/Speed wreck was so wicked that the red flag had to be thrown on the field.

Another driver who initially seemed to be having a lucky run was Kevin Harvick. Celebrating his eight-year anniversary with wife DeLana in the town in which they were married, Harvick looked like he had the car to beat. 

While lucky in love, Harvick was not so lucky on the race track.  Veteran driver Jeff Burton uncharacteristically lost control of his car right in front of Harvick, ruining his potential great finish.

Potentially the luckiest driver of all in this Vegas race was seasoned veteran Morgan Shepherd.  He ran in the top 20 most of the race and finished in the 13th position.

Morgan Shepherd not only had luck on his side but also the power of God, piloting his "Racing with Jesus" car.  It was very good to see that luck also favors the faithful in this amazing run.

Whether your driver was lucky or unlucky, the Sam's Town 300 Nationwide race was one of the most action-packed races of the young season to date.

And in the city dubbed as "Show Capital of the World," this Nationwide race most certainly lived up to that reputation, putting on quite a show starring the rookie and veteran drivers alike in the series.