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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Edwards comfortable at Joe Gibbs Racing

Carl Edwards looks to continue his Las Vegas success. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

Only two races into his new job, Carl Edwards is quickly finding his footing at Joe Gibbs Racing.

He left Roush Fenway Racing, where he spent the first 11 years of his career, to drive a new fourth car this season at Gibbs. The move reunited him with former Roush teammate Matt Kenseth, who has helped in Edwards’ transition to a new organization.

“I thought it would be harder to find my place, but it’s really simple,” Edwards said. “Everybody is extremely open in the debriefs. It’s pretty amazing. I’ve already learned a ton about the guys’ different driving styles. There’s a lot of information sharing between the drivers.”

Edwards is teamed with Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, who was injured on the season-opening weekend and is out indefinitely. Now Edwards hopes to find fast success at JGR, perhaps beginning today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he’s a two-time winner.

He has talked with new crew chief Darian Grubb about the importance of getting a win early in the season to lock down a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, something Edwards did last year when he won in March at Bristol.

Edwards, who will start 14th Sunday, would like to mimic the success Kenseth had two years ago when he moved to JGR. Kenseth picked up his first victory for Gibbs at Las Vegas, and went on to win seven more races and finish second in the championship standings.

Gordon crashes: Jeff Gordon crashed during the final practice, and his pole-winning car was damaged enough that Hendrick Motorsports pulled out a backup Chevrolet.

Gordon had won the pole, but will have to drop to the rear of the field at the start of the race because he changed cars. It was the first career pole at Las Vegas for the four-time champion.

The accident happened in the final minutes of practice when Danica Patrick spun in front of him and Gordon was unable to avoid her car. Gordon’s car suffered heavy damage to the nose and right rear.

No Busch brothers: There will not be a Busch brother in the field at Las Vegas, their home track, for the first time in 14 years.

Kyle Busch broke his right leg and left foot in a crash last month in Daytona and is sidelined indefinitely. Older brother Kurt has been suspended by NASCAR for an alleged domestic assault on his ex-girlfriend.

Moffitt’s chance: Brett Moffitt will start 36th in the first of his three scheduled starts for Front Row Motorsports.

The 22-year-old was lauded last week for an eighth-place finish at Atlanta, where he was the substitute driver for Brian Vickers.

It opened the door for a three-race opportunity with Front Row, which is borrowing Moffitt from Michael Waltrip Racing.

Dillon dominates Xfinity

Austin Dillon dominated the Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he still had to hold off a hard-charging Ryan Blaney to wrap up the win.