#NASCARGoesWest with the first stop at Kobalt 400

They’re calling it NASCAR Goes West, with a # — hashtag — at the start.

The hashtag means if you have a cellphone and a Wi-Fi connection, you’ll be able to access oodles of information about Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (and Saturday’s Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300, too) which kicks off NASCAR’s high-octane threepeat out West.

The Kobalt 400 will be followed next week by the Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona, and then by the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., the week after that.

Go West, fast men, Go West.

“When NASCAR goes West — that’s really kind of where the teams start figuring out where they stand,” said Denny Hamlin, who won the season-opening Daytona 500 by a few inches after making a thrilling last-lap pass of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.

“You have Daytona and Atlanta in there, those are kind of one-off tracks — those type of racetracks don’t really play much of a factor in the final part of the season. But these racetracks do, when you go to the two-mile track (Auto Club) or the one-mile track (Phoenix) or the mile-and-a-half track that’s Las Vegas.”

Hamlin said you get variety on the West Coast swing, and that’s just what you get down the stretch in the Chase for the Sprint Cup events.

“So you get to kind of figuring out how much homework your team has done in the offseason, and where you stand,” he said. “As drivers, we’re always excited to get to these racetracks, and find out what we have.”

Brad Keselowski, who drives the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford for Roger Penske, won the Kobalt 400 in 2014. The brash veteran from Michigan said getting a win early, which guarantees a driver and his team a spot in the Chase, is a major deal.

“If you can have success very early in the season, it’s huge, especially with the Chase format as it is,” said the 2012 Sprint Cup champion. “Being able to get that early race win in and then kind of go to work on building your resume, instead of just trying to make your way into the chase (is significant). So, I really like this part of the season.”

Kurt Busch, the native Las Vegan who won the inaugural Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2004 (when it was the Nextel Cup), approaches the Western stops a little differently than his speedy rivals. Busch said these three races always remind of him where he has been, rather than where he is going.

“What I like about NASCAR Goes West is it reminds me of growing up on the West Coast,” said the driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet. “Traveling along the Colorado River, and going to all the different little racetracks, like Bullhead City, Blythe, Lake Havasu — we would travel all the way to Phoenix, Southern California, the San Diego area. I mean, we traveled all over.

“This is what these three weeks reminds me of.”

Busch said he gets a peaceful, easy feeling driving his motorhome to and from the West Coast races, though he has yet to break through for a win on his hometown oval.

Kid brother Kyle, the reigning Sprint Cup champion, won here in 2009. Kurt’s best finish in 14 Las Vegas races is third.

“Vegas has always been the toughest track for me of the three,” he said. “I’ve won at Fontana; I’ve won at Phoenix. But Vegas? C’mon, we’ve got to fix that this time.

“Both of my primary sponsors, Monster Energy and Haas Automation, are based in Southern California. So there’s a lot of pressure. But the best way to look at it for my 41 team is to come away from NASCAR Goes West with a win. That way we can go to work on the Chase for later on in the year.”

Busch will be one of the crowd favorites on race day, but if you’re looking for a betting favorite, it would be hard not to consider Jimmie Johnson when the green flag falls on NASCAR Goes West.

Johnson had his problems last year, crashing twice in the No. 48 car due to tire problems. But he has won in Las Vegas four times. The other multiple Kobalt 400 winners are Matt Kenseth, with three checkered flags, and Carl Edwards and Jeff Burton, with two each.

As it was for Jeff Gordon last year, this also was supposed to be the final Las Vegas drive for popular three-time Cup champion Tony Stewart. But the Hoosier native will be sitting this one out after suffering injuries in an offseason dune buggy accident.

Stewart recently said he’d be back behind the wheel of the No. 14 Chevy this year; he just doesn’t know when.

#NASCARGoesWest will just have to proceed without him.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski