NASCAR Shelby 427

Matt Kenseth will run for a rare trifecta when he and NASCAR hit Sin City for the Shelby 427 on the 1.5-mile tri-oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday (4:45 pm Eastern, FOX).

Last Sunday Kenseth became the 1st driver since Jeff Gordon in 1997 to win the 1st 2 races of the season by fending off the same Jeff Gordon for the last 38 laps to take the Auto Club 500 in Fontana. The week previous, Kenseth won the rain-shortened Daytona 500 in Florida.

After becoming the fifth driver to win the first two races of the season, the kid from Wisconsin will now attempt to become the first driver to win the first three races of a new NASCAR season.

Meanwhile, in finishing second Sunday, Gordon extended his winless streak to 43 races. He's finished second three times over that span.

Last year at Las Vegas, Edwards led 86 laps on his way to a checkered-flag finish in the UAW-Dodge 400. After the race, Edwards' car was found to have a loose oil-tank cover, but his victory was allowed to stand. Earnhardt Jr, placed second that day, and Biffle ran third.

Before that, Johnson had won three straight UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400s at Vegas. And before that, Kenseth won two straight UAW-DC4s there.

The Roush racing team has won six of the 11 Cup races run at Las Vegas, and the Hendrick team has won four of the Vegas events.

NASCAR fans will want to check Oddsmaker for updated odds on this weekend's race as start time approaches.