Las Vegas, NV – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. put his Nationwide Series title defense in full gear by winning Saturday's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
During the last round of pit stops under caution, Stenhouse edged 53-year old and four-time Las Vegas Nationwide race winner Mark Martin out of the pits to take the lead for the first time with 55 laps remaining in the 200-lap event. The 24-year-old Stenhouse dominated from there, beating Martin to the finish line by 5.9 seconds.
Stenhouse claimed his third career Nationwide win but his first on a superspeedway. His first two victories came at Iowa Speedway during his championship season last year.
Elliott Sadler, the current points leader, finished third, while Stenhouse's Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Trevor Bayne, took the fourth spot. Las Vegas- native Brendan Gaughan completed the top-five.
Danica Patrick finished 12th one year after she finished a career-best fourth at this track.
Sadler now holds a 15-point lead over rookie and Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon, while Stenhouse is 17 markers behind the leader.
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