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Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the only thing more unpredictable than the racing which took place in the Sprint Cup series' Kobalt Tools 400 was the drastic swings in weather.

What started as a wind-filled, rain soaked morning ended as a sun soaked Spring afternoon. Brad Keselowski figuratively and literally weathered the storm to grab his first win since last season's race at California. 

Keselowski, who was caught speeding entering pit road early in the race, battled his teammate Joey Logano late before powering by Kyle Busch with six laps to go in Sunday's 267-lap affair. Keselowski's 18th career victory and second in his career at Las Vegas snapped one of the longest winless streaks of his career.

"We're glad to be back in Victory Lane," Keselowski said. "It's hard to believe it's been 34 races. We've led a lot of races in that time span, probably deserved to win a few more races than that. That's just kind of how racing goes sometimes. But, yes, of course thrilled to be back in Victory Lane. Thrilled to be locked into the Chase so early in the season, which is a tremendous feeling for our team, one that we're of course very thankful for."

Joey Logano also made a late race surge past the flailing Kyle Busch to secure a one - two finish for Team Penske in the desert. Logano, who led 70 laps, believes the product which NASCAR is putting on track is creating an excited brand of racing.

"I thought it was a great race out there," Logano explained. "We ran really top two or three the whole race, so I was very proud of what our team was able to do all day. I never seen the leader really check out and go away, which was pretty cool to be able to do that, to be able to see some more racing, some passing for the win there at the end with Brad. It was cool to see him come from third.

"I think the package is awesome.  I also think what we did at Team Penske, anytime you have one in Victory Lane, two of them sitting up here, that means it's a good day."

Jimmie Johnson led a race-high 76 laps on his way to third-place. Kyle Busch, who complained of a vibration late in the race, held on to a fourth-place finish followed by Austin Dillon in fifth place.

Driving for the Team Penske affiliated Wood Brothers Ryan Blaney ran up front for majority of the race. Despite the great finish, Blaney admitted the weather nearly took it away from him.

"It was pretty brutal at times," Blaney said. "It was really gusty. That would be the biggest problem,if it was unpredictable.   If it was a steady wind, it wasn't so bad. You can get into a rhythm. I got blown into three one time pretty hard and almost took the 88 out. That would have been terrible."

Last season's Las Vegas winner Kevin Harvick finished in seventh place followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Kurt Busch, and Kasey Kahne roudning out the top-ten.

The complexion of the race was changed on lap 226 when Matt Kenseth appeared to lose the handle of his race car and went for a spin before rookie Chase Elliott could react. The pair then collided ending both of their days. Kenseth finished in 37th place followed by Elliott in 38th.

But for the winner, Keselowski, NASCAR's new rules package was held in high praise following the victory. But he also understands the sanctioning body must stay ahead of the curve.

"I thought it was great," Keselowski said. "The cars probably had a little bit too much grip and lack of throttle response early in the run but late in the run they seemed to settle out very nicely, sliding around, allowing various talents to fall in line. I thought it was a really good balance. The challenge is for NASCAR that we've got all these race teams spending millions of dollars to develop the aerodynamics on the cars because there's such a competitive advantage to finding more downforce, finding more side force, reducing the drag on the cars. It will only take us about half a year to a year's time to where we remove all the benefits that this package has given the racing to showcase a day like we saw today with a lot of passing for the lead.

"I think the challenge for NASCAR is just to continue to stay ahead of that with segments and changes, knowing that the teams will continue to develop."

Race Results
Las Vegas Motor Speedway 
19th Annual Kobalt 400
UNOFFICIAL    Provided by NASCAR Statistics     Sunday, 3/6/2016 @ 9:20 PM US    UNOFFICIAL
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Lap    Pts    BPts    Status    TLd    LLd
1    4    2    Brad Keselowski    Miller Lite Ford    267    44    4    Running    3    24
2    2    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    267    40    1    Running    7    72
3    11    48    Jimmie Johnson    Kobalt Chevrolet    267    40    2    Running    4    76
4    23    18    Kyle Busch    M&M's 75 Toyota    267    38    1    Running    1    38
5    5    3    Austin Dillon    Dow Energy & Water/Intellifresh Chevrolet    267    37    1    Running    1    2
6    14    21    * Ryan Blaney #    Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford    267    35    Running
7    6    4    Kevin Harvick    Jimmy John's Chevrolet    267    35    1    Running    1    1
8    20    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr    Nationwide Chevrolet    267    33    Running
9    1    41    Kurt Busch    Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet    267    33    1    Running    1    32
10    8    5    Kasey Kahne    Farmers Insurance Chevrolet    267    31    Running
11    10    78    Martin Truex Jr    Furniture Row Toyota    267    30    Running
12    16    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr    Fastenal Ford    267    29    Running
13    21    31    Ryan Newman    Caterpillar Chevrolet    267    28    Running
14    12    47    AJ Allmendinger    Smith's/Kingsford Chevrolet    267    27    Running
15    15    27    Paul Menard    Dutch Boy/Menards Chevrolet    267    26    Running
16    29    1    Jamie McMurray    Cessna Chevrolet    267    25    Running
17    28    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    267    25    1    Running    1    1
18    24    19    Carl Edwards    ARRIS Toyota    267    23    Running
19    9    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Office Toyota    267    23    1    Running    1    10
20    26    16    Greg Biffle    Cheez-It Ford    267    21    Running
21    18    10    Danica Patrick    Nature's Bakery Chevrolet    267    20    Running
22    35    15    Clint Bowyer    5-Hour Energy Chevrolet    267    19    Running
23    22    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    267    18    Running
24    7    43    Aric Almirola    Smithfield Ford    266    17    Running
25    33    7    Regan Smith    Road Rippers Street Beatz Chevrolet    266    17    1    Running    1    1
26    25    34    Chris Buescher #    Love's Travel Stops Ford    266    15    Running
27    32    44    Brian Scott #    Albertsons Co/White Tail Ford    266    14    Running
28    27    38    Landon Cassill    MDS Transport Ford    266    13    Running
29    30    95    Michael McDowell    WRL General Contractors Chevrolet    266    12    Running
30    37    46    Michael Annett    Pilot Flying J Chevrolet    265    11    Running
31    34    83    Matt DiBenedetto    Cosmo Motors Toyota    263    10    Running
32    31    23    David Ragan    Dr Pepper Toyota    262    9    Running
33    38    32    Jeffrey Earnhardt #    Can-Am Ford    262    8    Running
34    17    42    Kyle Larson    Target Chevrolet    262    7    Running
35    39    30    * Josh Wise    Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet    259    6    Running
36    19    14    Brian Vickers    Mobil 1 Chevrolet    257    5    Running
37    3    20    Matt Kenseth    DeWalt Toyota    224    5    1    Accident    1    10
38    13    24    Chase Elliott #    NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet    224    3    Accident
39    36    98    * Cole Whitt    Speed Stick Chevrolet    115    2    Vibration

# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Average Speed: 138.170 MPH    Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 53 Mins, 55 Secs.    Margin of Victory: 0.675 Seconds
Lead Changes: 21 among 11 drivers    Cautions: 6 for 36 laps