The Podracing fellas are thrilled about what was the first mile-and-a-half race of the season last week at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We break down the high points — both driving-wise and emotionally — of Denny Hamlin’s win at Vegas, then pivot to Neil’s research about the surprisingly large predictive effect of the season’s debut mile-and-half “Marioval”. Then we look ahead to a totally unique and not at all cookie-cutter track, the wonderfully asymmetrical Darlington, for Sunday’s race picks and one-and-done contest entries.

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