Tag: South Point 400

Playoff Opener at Vegas goes to Martin Truex Jr.

LAS VEGAS, NV — Martin Truex Jr. becomes the first driver to lock himself into the Round of 12 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series Playoffs. The No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the South Point 400.

It is his fifth win of the season, but it also came during a string of races with a combination of finishes. Since his last win at the road course of Sonoma Raceway, he has earned three top fives, but also four finishes of 15th position or worse.

“We took a gamble, qualified 24th,’’ said Truex, who led 32 laps. “For a while, it wasn’t looking too smart with the 4 (Harvick) out front. Got the right adjustments in the end. Had a great car all day long.

“Hell of a way to make a championship run. Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.’’

Kevin Harvick led 47 laps in total, but fell short in the closing laps to finish second.

“I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough,’’ the 2014 Cup champ said. “Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run. He made up that ground there, was able to stay close enough to us. My car started to get loose and push the front. It was just in kind of a four-wheel drift.

“We did some things this weekend that we probably will have to undo going forward. I think we can do a little bit better going forward.’’

Earlier in the race, Brad Keselowski appeared to have engine issues, with the No. 2 Ford team pulling the hood up to investigate internal issues with the racecar. Whether they were able to dodge a bullet or get diagnose the issue, the car seemed to run at full speed. He fell back as far as outside of the top 20 late in the race, but was able to charge his way through the field to finish third.

Chase Elliott was the highest finishing Chevrolet and finished fourth, leading 12 laps. Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five with his fifth place effort. The rest of the top 10 was filled with Playoff drivers: Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman respectively.

For Byron, it was his first Playoff race of his young career. However, his crew chief Chad Knaus has now been in every Playoff since its formation back in 2004.

“Survive the whole race and try to compete,” said Byron who finished a career-high at Vegas with a seventh place run. “I was really happy with that (finish). We have to be aggressive coming up. Richmond’s going to be a tough short track.”

Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin make it three-wide going into Turn 1 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. — Drivers got aggressive on the restarts, as many went three-wide into Turn 1. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

The rest of the Playoff drivers finished outside of the top 10. Aric Almirola led earlier in the race and stayed in the top 10 for most of the race, but finished 13th.

“The goal was to leave here in a decent in the points,” Almirola shared after the race. “We just gotta fight hard. Nobody’s going to give it to you. Every point matters, every stage matters.”

Denny Hamlin finished 15th, and Kyle Busch, with multiple issues throughout the race, wound up 19th. Busch hit the wall on Lap 4, and went two laps down early in the race. He was able to rally back to battle for a top five run until a collision with Garrett Smithley knocked the nose of the car and the splitter askew. The handling of the car seemed to be destroyed, and he fell back to finish a lap down.

Pole sitter Clint Bowyer fell back early and was not able to recover. The No. 14 Ford ended the event in the 25th position after leading just the opening lap. Erik Jones had transmission issues that put him behind the wall for 15 laps until the team could make repairs to the car. He finished 36th, 13 laps down. Kurt Busch hit the outside wall in Turn 3 after a left front flat tire caused from contact between him and Truex Jr. on a restart on Lap 185. He would finish in last place, the 39th position.

LOGANO SHOWING EARLY STRENGTH IN STAGE ONE

Logano started 22nd, but took over the race lead by Lap 34. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

As the green flag dropped, drivers were aggressive right out of the gate. While Bowyer was on pole for the first time in 12 years, Daniel Suarez took over the race lead over the next several laps after his Stewart Haas Racing teammate led the first lap. A couple drivers made quick climbs through the field, including non-Playoff driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who made his way up as high as third in the running order.

But the opening laps proved the drama of the Playoffs was alive and well. On Lap 4, Kyle Busch got loose in Turn 2 and hit the wall. The race stayed green, but he was forced to come down pit road a few laps later to replace a flat right rear tire. The crew spent a few extra seconds to pull sheet metal away to provide clearance for the new tires. He would eventually end up two laps down further into the stage.

Just passed halfway through Stage 1, Almirola took over the lead. However, that was short lived as Logano took over the race lead on Lap 34. He originally started in the 22nd position. During green flag pit stops, all drivers came for fuel and tires except for Michael McDowell, who wanted to stretch out his run as far as they could go. The driver of the No. 34 Ford eventually came down pit road, cycling the lead back to Logano who went on to win the stage.

PLAYOFF HOPES SCATTER FOR MANY DRIVERS IN STAGE TWO ONWARD

On the restart, Jones appeared to potentially miss a shift or have a mechanical issue with the transmission of his Toyota Camry as he was stuck in second gear. The crew diagnosed the issue behind the wall in the garage, and the Southern 500 winner was able to rejoin the race 15 laps down.

No one appeared to have any major issues during the second set of green flag pit stops, but Elliott had one of the biggest gains on pit road and found his way up to second in the later half of the stage. Truex was able to get around late in the run, but it Logano seemed to be the car to beat. Truex won Stage 2.

During the pit stops at the conclusion of the Stage 2, Larson received a safety violation penalty and was forced to restart at the tail end of the field. At the time, he had worked his way up into the third position. Front runners ran aggressive on the restart of the final stage. Byron made contact with a few drivers, and had a flat tire to spin on the exit of Turn 4. No contact with the wall was made, so he was able to continue but the yellow flag did fly. Teammate Elliott saw him on pit road as his crew replaced the tires, and backed off to allow him to stay on the lead lap.

Logano, Harvick and Elliott (outside to inside) battle for second behind race leader and eventual race winner Truex. Photo courtesy of Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.

Cars were four-wide during the restart. Contact between Truex and Kurt Busch caused the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro to have a tire rub on the left front. The team went back on forth on if they should come down pit road, but the decision was just a lap too late. His left front tire gave way down the backstretch, and the 2004 champion was not able to get the car slowed in time. He hit the outside wall in Turn 3, and came to rest at the entrance to pit road. He would be the first car out of the race and finish in last place.

With 50 laps to go, Harvick led over Truex and Keselowski. The Team Penske driver had the hood up earlier in the race on pit road as the team was diagnosing strange performance issues, but they were able to resolve those and fight their way into the top three. The other big mover was Kyle Busch, who moved into the top 10 for the first time in the day.

In the closing laps, a few drivers decided to stretch their run as far as they could. Unlike Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race where fuel mileage played a potential role, it was definitely too far for their cars to go in one run. Two drivers included Byron and Larson stayed on track to see if a caution would get them in a strong position. At this point, all other Playoff drivers were a lap down according to scoring.

It was not meant to be. The race stayed green, and the rest of the field was forced to pit. Harvick was able to regain the lead, but Truex was able to fight his way around and take over the lead on Lap 248.

As Kyle Busch climbed his way to start battling for the top five, he chose the middle lane when battling with Elliott and Bowman. Smithley however was in the middle lane running slower than Busch expected. The No. 18 Toyota slammed into the rear of the lapped car, caving in the nose and tweaking the splitter on the right front. Busch fell far off pace to finish in 19th, one lap down.

Out front, Truex led the remaining 20 laps to win his fifth race of the season. The victory secures his spot into the next round. The Cup series will compete next at Richmond Raceway as the Round of 16 continues.

Source: Racing Reference

Fin	St	#	Driver	Sponsor / Owner	Car	Laps	Status	Led	Pts	PPts
1	24	19	Martin Truex, Jr.	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker ATVs & Boats (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	267	running	32	53	6
2	3	4	Kevin Harvick	Mobil 1 (Stewart Haas Racing)	Ford	267	running	47	51	0
3	18	2	Brad Keselowski	Auto Trader (Roger Penske)	Ford	267	running	0	34	0
4	8	9	Chase Elliott	NAPA Filters (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	267	running	12	39	0
5	23	12	Ryan Blaney	PPG (Roger Penske)	Ford	267	running	1	35	0
6	19	88	Alex Bowman	Nationwide (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	267	running	0	32	0
7	14	24	William Byron	Liberty University (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	267	running	6	39	0
8	15	42	Kyle Larson	Clover (Chip Ganassi)	Chevrolet	267	running	2	39	0
9	22	22	Joey Logano	Pennzoil (Roger Penske)	Ford	267	running	105	47	1
10	17	6	Ryan Newman	Oscar Mayer Bacon (Jack Roush)	Ford	267	running	0	27	0
11	9	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ally (Rick Hendrick)	Chevrolet	267	running	0	26	0
12	7	3	Austin Dillon	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Off Road (Richard Childress)	Chevrolet	267	running	0	31	0
13	4	10	Aric Almirola	Smithfield (Stewart Haas Racing)	Ford	267	running	3	32	0
14	21	21	Paul Menard	Menards / Monster (Wood Brothers)	Ford	267	running	0	23	0
15	13	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Ground (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	267	running	3	26	0
16	27	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO (Germain Racing)	Chevrolet	267	running	0	21	0
17	6	8	Daniel Hemric	Cessna / Beechcraft (Richard Childress)	Chevrolet	267	running	0	20	0
18	28	37	Chris Buescher	Natural Light Seltzer (JTG-Daugherty Racing)	Chevrolet	266	running	1	19	0
19	20	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Hazelnut (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	266	running	0	18	0
20	2	41	Daniel Suarez	Haas Automation (Stewart Haas Racing)	Ford	266	running	29	24	0
21	25	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Barstool Sports (Leavine Family Racing)	Toyota	266	running	9	16	0
22	11	38	David Ragan	Select Blinds (Bob Jenkins)	Ford	266	running	0	15	0
23	31	43	Bubba Wallace	Victory Junction (Richard Petty Motorsports)	Chevrolet	266	running	0	14	0
24	10	34	Michael McDowell	Love’s Travel Stops / International Trucks (Bob Jenkins)	Ford	266	running	16	13	0
25	1	14	Clint Bowyer	Toco Warranty (Stewart Haas Racing)	Ford	266	running	1	12	0
26	12	17	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	Sunny D (Jack Roush)	Ford	265	running	0	11	0
27	16	47	Ryan Preece	Kroger / Nature Valley / Clorox (JTG-Daugherty Racing)	Chevrolet	265	running	0	10	0
28	33	32	Corey LaJoie	Schluter Systems (Archie St. Hilaire)	Ford	265	running	0	9	0
29	30	00	Landon Cassill	William Hill Sports Book / Sahara Las Vegas (StarCom Racing)	Chevrolet	265	running	0	0	0
30	29	36	Matt Tifft	Surface / Maui Jim (Bob Jenkins)	Ford	264	running	0	7	0
31	32	15	Ross Chastain	Xchange of America (Jay Robinson)	Chevrolet	262	running	0	0	0
32	36	53	J.J. Yeley	AQRE.app (Rick Ware)	Ford	260	running	0	0	0
33	35	51	B.J. McLeod	Jacob Companies (Rick Ware)	Ford	259	running	0	0	0
34	38	27	Joe Nemechek	Premium Motorsports (Jay Robinson)	Chevrolet	257	running	0	0	0
35	34	52	Garrett Smithley	Honest Abe Roofing (Rick Ware)	Ford	255	running	0	0	0
36	26	20	Erik Jones	Craftsman / Gas Monkey Garage (Joe Gibbs)	Toyota	254	running	0	2	0
37	37	77	Reed Sorenson	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	250	running	0	1	0
38	39	66	Joey Gase	Nevada Donor Network (Carl Long)	Toyota	249	running	0	0	0
39	5	1	Kurt Busch	Gear Wrench (Chip Ganassi)	Chevrolet	187	crash	0	8	0

September 16, 2019

Clint Bowyer Leads a Stewart Haas Sweep by Winning the Pole for the South Point 400

Stewart Haas Racing sweeps the top four starting spots, and this time they get to keep it. Clint Bowyer will lead his Ford teammates by winning the Busch Pole Award for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series.

“I’m as shocked as you are,” Bowyer exclaimed in the media center.

Reason for the surprise is that it was Bowyer’s third career pole in the Cup series. His last pole came on this date in 2007 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when qualifying was originally held on Friday. He went on to lead 222 laps and claim his first career win. The race was also the Playoff opener for that year’s postseason. It had been 431 races between the veteran driver’s pole awards.

“Something is wrong with them if I beat them to a pole,” Bowyer said jokingly on the NBCSN broadcast. “I’m telling you that car is a bullet.

“Tomorrow’s a whole new day. The thing’s got to turn left at the end of the straightaway tomorrow and it has to do it for a long time, unlike just one lap today. Just timing is everything and we had some good fortune.”

Bowyer bested his teammates, with Daniel Suarez, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola starting just behind him. The team had originally earned the first four starting positions earlier this year at Kansas, but post-qualifying inspection found two of the cars illegal, invalidating their times. Former Stewart Haas driver Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.

“Qualifying well is important,” Almirola shared after his fourth place qualifying run. “I am happy about that and really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. There is so much effort going in week in and week out, and I feel really good about where we are at.”

The first non-Playoff drivers were the Richard Childress Racing teammates of Daniel Hemric and Austin Dillon, who will start sixth and seventh respectively. Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Michael McDowell complete the top 10 starting positions.

“It hurts to not be in the Playoffs,” Johnson shared before qualifying with Bob Pockrass for NASCAR on FOX. “It really bothers me at the end of the day, but that’s good that it has that effect on me. We’re going to use that as fuel to get us back where we need to be.”

Denny Hamlin was the fastest Toyota driver, and will start 13th. Other Playoff drivers through the first half of the field include William Byron (14th), Kyle Larson (15th), Ryan Newman (17th), Brad Keselowski (18), Alex Bowman (19th) and Kyle Busch (20th).

The Playoff drivers that struggled the most in qualifying include Joey Logano (22nd), Ryan Blaney (23rd), Martin Truex Jr. (24th) and Erik Jones (26th).

The green flag for the first race of the Playoffs will wave on Sunday, September 15 for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

September 14, 2019
Jones Confident with 2019 Playoff Contention, Focused on Results and Not Luck

A month and a half ago, Erik Jones was in the conversation for being “on the bubble” when it comes to making the postseason of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series. With multiple top five finishes and a victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the No. 20 team is focused on making it further into the Playoffs this year.

“We DNF’d in Vegas and that was really the end of it,” said Jones, reflecting back on his 2018 Playoff run. “We never could make that point deficit back up at Richmond or Charlotte.”

Leaning on his experience from last year, Jones understands the pressure is still on to perform; not just with securing a spot in the Playoffs, but continuing to progress through each three-race round. When NASCAR introduced elimination rounds for the postseason, there has been less and less mistakes allowed, if any. Jones very much so recognizes this.

“It’s not easy. You have to have a perfect run,” Jones expressed. “You have to have 10 perfect weeks. There’s no room for error at any of these races. You can’t go in and DNF, you can’t go in and run 25th, you can’t not get stage points in a race. You have to have 10 perfect races of running up really past the Round of 16 in the top-five. You can’t have mistakes, you can’t have things that take you out.

“Last year, Vegas, the race we got taken out of was nothing of our doing. We just got caught up in a wreck that was unfortunate and took us out of the Playoffs. Maybe there is some luck in there — I’m not a big believer in luck — but sometimes things just have to go your way.”

But maybe luck has a role in it all. With the Southern 500 earlier this year, a solid pit stop by his team put him in position to claim the lead where he went on to win his second career Cup race. However, Jones was quick to identify his team’s effort to get them where they are now.

“I think Chris (Gayle, crew chief) and I are a good balance for each other,” Jones praised his crew chief when asked about the relationship with his team corresponding with the results they have produced throughout the past year. “Chris has a lot of energy and is an amped up guy, but during the race he is really good at keeping things calm and low key, Chris has worked with me long enough now to really understand me and get me, he knows that I’m not necessarily a guy that needs to be pushed. I don’t need to be pushed to run or work hard during a race.

“I would say this is probably the best communication or chemistry we’ve had since our Cup career started with him just really being able to dive into my feedback and make really good adjustments. He’s just really been on top of what we need to do to be fast.”

Whether it’s luck, hard work, talent or a combination of all the above, Jones knows he needs to avoid one drastic situation: must-win races.

“We were in a must-win situation at the Roval and we don’t want to be there again,” he recalled from the 2018 season after his DNF last year here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We know what we have to do and that’s just have smooth, calculated races, running and getting stage points and running in the top-five. Really doing what we’ve done the last month-and-a-half, two months and just getting those good finishes.”

This year, Jones has high goals that he believes are achieveable and that he could be one of the dark horses. His team is taking one race at a time, but if the cards fall right, they know they have the speed to make it deep into the 2019 Playoffs, including sneaking into Homestead.

“For us, my goal at least and I think Chris (Gayle, crew chief) is on the same page is just to get to that Round of 8,” Jones declared with confidence. “In that round, Texas and Phoenix are two great tracks for me. Martinsville is a little bit of a struggle sometimes, but Texas and Phoenix are two places I feel like we can go and win races at. If we can make it there, I feel like we’ve got an opportunity to sneak one out between Texas and Phoenix.

“You never know from there, it can be a wildcard.”

So far, Jones has nine top five finishes and 13 top 10 finishes, with a similar average finish compared to last year. He currently sits as the 10th seed, as he seeks to take the No. 20 car to Homestead to compete for his first Cup series title.

September 13, 2019

Keselowski Rolls the Dice in Vegas to Win the South Point 400

Vegas wasn’t so lucky for half of the Playoff contenders as Brad Keselowski claimed the jackpot in the Playoff opener in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series at the inaugural South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, securing his spot in the second round of the Playoffs.

“I didn’t think it was ever gonna end,” Brad commented about the multiple yellow flag conditions toward the end of the race, which included one red flag for over 10 minutes. “I was worried about running out of gas there at the end. I know the fans can hear on this microphone and I want to say thank you to everyone who braved 100-degree heat all day. You guys are the real heroes. I get paid to do this. You guys pay to watch and thank you for doing that. Thank you for coming out today and tolerating the heat. We’re so glad to be able to win and get in Victory Lane again with the Autotrader Ford. What a special day for 500 wins for Penske, three in a row here, first win in the Playoffs. There are too many storylines for me to get it all right, but we’re very thankful and very proud for all of them.”

Kyle Larson led multiple times throughout the final stage but finished second in his DC Solar Vegas Strong Chevrolet with Chip Ganassi Racing.

“The restarts, a couple of them worked out for me and a couple of them didn’t,” Larson stated about the end of the race. “But, was happy to end up second there. Didn’t really expect to get to second there on that final restart, but it was pretty hectic. Just glad we had a good day after the tire issue we had early in the race. So, yeah, good points day.”

Martin Truex Jr. was the only driver of the “Big 3” that didn’t have major issues in the race and was able to put his No. 78 5-hour Energy Toyota in the third position.

“It took the race from us, no question,” Truex said with frustration about the multiple short runs toward the end of the race. “With 15 laps or so we could take the lead and drive away. We were actually a little too good on the long run, I wish maybe we could have gone the other direction a little bit and still been able to get the lead. If we were the leader, we could do okay, I could maintain, but when I was second or third or fourth, it just made me tight enough that I had to wait for the thing to come to me or wait for other guys to start getting off the bottom in front of me.

“All in all it was a great day for everybody on the Bass Pro/5-hour ENERGY Camry and all the guys did a phenomenal job this weekend. Thanks to all the guys back in Denver at the shop, it’s pretty cool to see the effort going into these last 10 – we’re going to get after them. We had a winning car, just didn’t work out for us today. Really proud of the effort.”

Alex Bowman surprised the crowd and ran as high as third in the race, until a late race crash put him laps down. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media. — Alex Bowman surprised the crowd and ran as high as third in the race until a late race crash put him laps down. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.

Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch completed the first seven positions and were all Playoff drivers. Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman and Paul Menard completed the top 10. Other Playoff drivers finished as follows.

Austin Dillon (11th)
Alex Bowman (19th)
Kurt Busch (21st)
Jimmie Johnson (22nd)
Clint Bowyer (23rd)
Denny Hamlin (32nd)
Chase Elliott (36th)
Kevin Harvick (39th)
Erik Jones (40th)

Ross Chastain, who won yesterday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race, was knocking on the door of a top 10 finish, but a late race incident resulted in a 20th place finish with his No. 15 Xchange of America Chevrolet with Premium Motorsports.

Martin Truex Jr. Keeps the “Big 3” Strong, Wins Stage 1

While Eric Jones started on pole, he was not able to lead a lap as Joey Logano who started alongside him was able to get the advantage on the exit of Turn 4 and lead the opening 33 laps. Kevin Harvick began to hunt him down and lead a small number of laps, but the field started to take green flag pit stops. Toward the beginning of the first stage, Kyle Larson had tire issues and had to pit out of sequence, so his uphill battle started early in the race.

Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin both led one lap each during the cycles, but Regan Smith elected to stay out and lead the next 10 laps. Harvick reclaimed the lead for another 10 laps, but Martin Truex Jr. had a car that was strong on the long runs. He would get by on Lap 60 and secure the win in Stage 1. No cautions came out, and AJ Allmendinger was the beneficiary of the stage caution.

Keselowski Hunts for Three in a Row, Claims Stage 2

Ryan Blaney gets full service on his No. 12 PPG Ford at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.

While stage one was caution-free, Stage 2 was a new race with three yellow flag incidents. The first was for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Turn 3 as he smacked the outside wall. He was able to come down pit road and service his No. 17 SunnyD Ford and continue in the South Point 400.

The second yellow was thrown as Ty Dillon crashed along the frontstretch. He was able to continue around the track, but as he drove along the apron of the backstretch, the tread on his front tire fell off as he received more damage to his car.

As the second stage began to close, Kevin Harvick suddenly popped his right-front tire in Turn 2 and collected the pole winner, Erik Jones. Both would be the first of many Playoff contenders to fall victim to the afternoon’s race. Harvick’s car caught fire along the outside wall of the backstretch but he was able to climb out under his own power. Jones’s car was unable to continue as he rested on the apron of Turn 3.

“I am not happy about anything right now,” Harvick proclaimed with extreme frustration since he had a 50 point Playoff cushion coming into today’s race but saw it evaporate before his eyes.

“We have to run well at Richmond and the Roval now,” Jones said as he is now on the outside looking in.

At the final restart of the second stage, Keselowski was able to hold off a hard charging field to win Stage 2. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace was the beneficiary of the Stage 2 caution.

Mayhem Unfolds in the Final Stage of the South Point 400

In the final stage of the first Playoff race of 2018, Las Vegas Motor Speedway began to claim more Playoff drivers. At the start, Jamie McMurray won the race off pit road and led the first five laps. Kyle Larson moved his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet past his teammate to lead for the first time of the day. He soon battled with Keselowski for the top spot. As they battled, William Byron crashed in Turn 3, which was the first of seven yellow flags of the final stage.

The field took the green and the two main drivers talked about were Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. Keselowski seemed to have the strong short-run car, but Truex was able to find a new gear with a long-run setup and start hunting down the top spot around 10 laps into a run.

While completing Lap 212, Jamie McMurray appeared to lose a right rear tire as he entered Turn 3. Committed to the low line, his car slid all the way up the track with hard impact into the outside SAFER barrier wall. Playoff contender Chase Elliott was already set for the high line and was collected in the crash. Neither driver was able to continue in the race.

Kyle Busch drove through the speedy dry where Chase Elliott’s car rested and lost control, spinning into the infield grass. Although the right-front tire went flat during his spin, his car received minimal damage. His crew went to work on his Toyota to put their Playoff driver back out onto the track in competition.

NASCAR Officials pull the pit crew of Kurt Busch away from the car as the red flag is displayed. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.

With 30 laps to go, the field took the green for the restart. Brad Keselowski’s crew put his No. 2 Ford in front alongside Martin Truex Jr. However going into Turn 1, Kyle Larson made a three-wide pass on the outside and after another circuit around, claimed the top spot. Truex dropped back to fourth as Logano was able to also get by for the third position.

On Lap 246, Denny Hamlin lost control of his Toyota in the same spot as teammate Kyle Busch just earlier. However, as he slid through the grass, his car took severe front-end damage, ending his day.

“Should’ve just finished 10th, 15th, or wherever we were running,” Hamlin said after a disappointing run at Vegas, sharing that he was trying to get “too much out of the car.”

As the field took the green for the restart, Keselowski had a strong restart and was able to claim the lead in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. There was a three-wide battle for third, but the yellow came out as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose on the exit of Turn 2. He slid to the inside of the track and hit the inside wall, similar to Chase Briscoe’s crash in yesterday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race. Stenhouse was able to climb out of his race car under his own power and was checked and released from the infield care center.

On a late restart, Jimmie Johnson got loose and pinched Clint Bowyer into the outside wall. Alex Bowman also hit the wall after a flat left front tire. The track stayed green for a few laps, but NASCAR eventually did throw another yellow flag on Lap 263 after debris was found on the track.

Brad Keselowski does his traditional victory celebration with the American flag. He also celebrated Team Penske's 500th career victory. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media. — Brad Keselowski does his traditional victory celebration with the American flag. He also celebrated Team Penske’s 500th career victory. Photo by Rachel Myers for Speedway Media.

With yet another restart underway, Joey Logano made his way up into the second spot, but as Keselowski started to check out on the rest of the field, multiple cars crashed in Turn 4, including two more Playoff contenders, Kurt Busch and Clint Bowyer. Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, Matt DiBenedetto and David Ragan were also involved. With so much debris on the track, NASCAR put out the red flag for just over 10 minutes to clean up the track and set up the race for overtime.

On the first overtime attempt, Team Penske held three of the top four positions. Logano was caught sleeping on the restart, which gave Keselowski all the room he needed to give Roger Penske his 500th victory.

“That’s quite a number,” Keselowski exclaimed as his team celebrated Team Penske’s 500th victory, as well as their second-round pass into the Playoffs. “It’s really great to be a part of that and to get the last four to get us there, that’s one special time.”

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race
Unofficial Race Results for the Inaugural South Point 400 – Sunday, September 16, 2018
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Las Vegas, NV

Pos	St	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	13	2	Brad Keselowski (P)	Autotrader	Ford
2	11	42	Kyle Larson (P)	DC Solar Vegas Strong	Chevrolet
3	10	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	5-hour ENERGY	Toyota
4	2	22	Joey Logano (P)	Pennzoil	Ford
5	6	12	Ryan Blaney (P)	PPG	Ford
6	16	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield	Ford
7	4	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s	Toyota
8	19	19	Daniel Suarez	ARRIS	Toyota
9	22	31	Ryan Newman	Liberty National	Chevrolet
10	20	21	Paul Menard	Menards/Aquafina	Ford
11	18	3	Austin Dillon (P)	DOWFROST	Chevrolet
12	25	95	Regan Smith	Procore	Chevrolet
13	23	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Rehydrate	Ford
14	29	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
15	28	37	Chris Buescher	Natural Light Race Day Resume	Chevrolet
16	32	72	Corey LaJoie	Dragonchain	Chevrolet
17	36	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Steakhouse Elite	Toyota
18	37	00	Landon Cassill(i)	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
19	9	88	Alex Bowman (P)	Valvoline	Chevrolet
20	34	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Xchange of America	Chevrolet
21	8	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Haas Automation	Ford
22	17	48	Jimmie Johnson (P)	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
23	15	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	One Cure	Ford
24	26	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Zynga Poker	Ford
25	35	96	* Jeffrey Earnhardt	American Soldier Network/Xtreme Concepts	Toyota
26	33	99	* Kyle Weatherman	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
27	27	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport	Ford
28	38	51	BJ McLeod(i)	Jacob Companies	Ford
29	24	34	Michael McDowell	Speedco/Rotella	Ford
30	14	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SunnyD	Ford
31	40	7	* Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet
32	3	11	Denny Hamlin (P)	FedEx Ground	Toyota
33	39	66	* Timmy Hill(i)	Rewards.com	Toyota
34	30	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
35	12	1	Jamie McMurray	GEARWRENCH	Chevrolet
36	7	9	Chase Elliott (P)	NAPA Auto Parts	Chevrolet
37	21	24	William Byron #	AXALTA	Chevrolet
38	31	43	Bubba Wallace #	World Wide Technology	Chevrolet
39	5	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Mobil 1	Ford
40	1	20	Erik Jones (P)	DeWalt	Toyota

September 16, 2018

Erik Jones Starts the Playoffs with Pole in Las Vegas

Erik Jones will kick off the playoffs by winning the pole for Sunday’s Inaugural South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series at 188.121 mph in 28.705 seconds.

“It’s exciting to be in the Playoffs for the first time,” proclaimed Jones. “In the Cup Series, you want to be in contention for a championship. This is our opportunity to do it this year. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be challenging. It’s going to be a new experience.”

Joey Logano was 0.003 seconds off the top spot, and will start on Jones’s outside. Both drivers were the only competitors to run a 188 mph average speed in the final stage of qualifying.

“Just not quite fast enough. I hate being three-thousandths of a second off,” Logano shared as he was frustrated by the short margin. “I am proud of the effort everyone has put into this car. We have a good Pennzoil Ford to run here at Vegas. I am excited about that. Just didn’t finish the turn quite good enough. Got into the corner and turned the first part alright but couldn’t finish the center to the deepest point of the corner. So we will start second and race from there.”

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, who was hundredths of a second from being eliminated in the first round of qualifying, wound up third and fourth in the final stage of qualifying. Kevin Harvick was the only one of the “Big 3” to consistently run up front in all three stages of qualifying and will start fifth.

“It was good”, Harvick confidently stated. “We fought tight the whole time and at the last one I got it in there a little too high in turn one and could never really get it back to the bottom but it was still a good lap.”

The rest of the final stage results for positions six through twelve went to Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson and Jamie McMurray, the only non-Playoff contender in the final stage of qualifying.

Earlier Stages of Qualifying for the Inaugural South Point 400:

In the first stage of qualifying, Kevin Harvick held the top spot over Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson and Client Bowyer. All playoff drivers made it to Round 2, but Kyle Busch bobbles in the middle of 3 and 4, almost costing him as he finishes 24th in the first round, barely edging out Regan Smith and Matt DiBenedetto.

The second stage had Erik Jones at the top of the charts with a slightly slower time than the first stage. Harvick, Logano, Hamlin and Larson was the top five positions going into the final stage. The Playoff drivers eliminated at the second stage were Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon.

Starting Lineup
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Inaugural South Point 400

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Make
1	20	Erik Jones (P)	DeWalt	Toyota
2	22	Joey Logano (P)	Pennzoil	Ford
3	11	Denny Hamlin (P)	FedEx Ground	Toyota
4	18	Kyle Busch (P)	M&M’s	Toyota
5	4	Kevin Harvick (P)	Mobil 1	Ford
6	12	Ryan Blaney (P)	PPG	Ford
7	9	Chase Elliott (P)	NAPA Auto Parts	Chevrolet
8	41	Kurt Busch (P)	Haas Automation	Ford
9	88	Alex Bowman (P)	Valvoline	Chevrolet
10	78	Martin Truex Jr. (P)	5-hour ENERGY	Toyota
11	42	Kyle Larson (P)	DC Solar Vegas Strong	Chevrolet
12	1	Jamie McMurray	GEARWRENCH	Chevrolet
13	2	Brad Keselowski (P)	Autotrader	Ford
14	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	SunnyD	Ford
15	14	Clint Bowyer (P)	One Cure	Ford
16	10	Aric Almirola (P)	Smithfield	Ford
17	48	Jimmie Johnson (P)	Lowe’s for Pros	Chevrolet
18	3	Austin Dillon (P)	DOWFROST	Chevrolet
19	19	Daniel Suarez	ARRIS	Toyota
20	21	Paul Menard	Menards/Aquafina	Ford
21	24	William Byron #	AXALTA	Chevrolet
22	31	Ryan Newman	Liberty National	Chevrolet
23	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Rehydrate	Ford
24	34	Michael McDowell	Speedco/Rotella	Ford
25	95	Regan Smith	Procore	Chevrolet
26	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Zynga Poker	Ford
27	38	David Ragan	MDS Transport	Ford
28	37	Chris Buescher	Natural Light Race Day Resume	Chevrolet
29	47	AJ Allmendinger	Kroger ClickList	Chevrolet
30	13	Ty Dillon	GEICO	Chevrolet
31	43	Bubba Wallace #	World Wide Technology	Chevrolet
32	72	Corey LaJoie	Dragonchain	Chevrolet
33	99	Kyle Weatherman	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
34	15	Ross Chastain(i)	Xchange of America	Chevrolet
35	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	American Soldier Network/Xtreme Concepts	Chevrolet
36	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Steakhouse Elite	Toyota
37	00	Landon Cassill(i)	StarCom Fiber	Chevrolet
38	51	BJ McLeod(i)	Jacob Companies	Ford
39	66	Timmy Hill(i)	Rewards.com	Toyota
40	7	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet

(P) Playoff Contender
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
(#) Rookie

September 15, 2018