Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins NASCAR Nationwide race at Las Vegas

Reporting from Las Vegas -- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. pulled away from Mark Martin on the final restart and captured the NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Stenhouse, the reigning Nationwide champion, won by nearly six seconds over the second-place Martin in the Sam’s Town 300. Elliott Sadler finished third and Trevor Bayne fourth.

The final restart came with 39 laps left in the 200-lap race, and Stenhouse — driving a Roush Fenway Racing Ford — steadily put Martin in the distance for his third career Nationwide win and his first victory on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval.

Stenhouse praised his team, saying, “The guys on pit road did an awesome job of getting us out first” before the last restart, though he added that “I definitely think we had the car to beat.”

Martin, driving a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, said, “That was one serious beat-down [Stenhouse] put on me that last run.

“I kept up with him for a while and I about wrecked five times,” Martin said. “He just had that thing rolling.”

Danica Patrick drove an accident-free race and finished where she started, in 12th, for her best result so far this season. She also finished on the lead lap but 20 seconds behind Stenhouse.

Patrick ran for a while in the top 10 but spent a good part of the race in the middle of the 43-car field as she struggled with handling problems on her No. 7 Chevrolet.

Several drivers were involved in single-car accidents in the race, including Kyle Busch, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star who hit the wall early in the race. He finished 33rd.

Brian Scott was in contention until his Toyota spun and slammed nose first into the wall near the race’s midway point, and he finished 34th.

james.peltz@latimes.com