Brad Keselowski made it three 2018 NASCAR wins in a row as many playoff contenders found bad luck in Las Vegas as the post-season started with the South Point 400.
The first race in the Round of 12 took place in Las Vegas where the 16 drivers that made the playoffs grid of drivers were betting on scoring as many points as possible. Unfortunately for more than half of those drivers it seemed that the “Lady Luck” was NOT on their side.
The first race in NASCAR’s playoffs had 12 caution periods of which 10 were for on track incidents. Kyle Larson faced adversity early when he had a right, front tire blow out (he would recover from the incident to contend for the win). Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones wrecked out of the race on lap 148 when Kevin’s tire went down causing the two cars to crash. Chase Elliott was involved in a crash on lap 212. The other playoff contenders that had issues in Sunday’s race included Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer and Alex Bowman.
Most of the afternoon it looked as though Martin Truex Jr. was going to be the car to beat as he won stage one of the race and led a race high 96 laps. Brad Keselowski was able to claim a stage two victory and adjust his car from that point on to be in position to challenge for the win.
When the race came down to the final laps Brad was able to get out front off pit row and on the impending re-starts including the green-white-checkered, overtime restart and claim the win in Las Vegas. The win is Brad’s third at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and his third consecutive 2018 win following Darlington and Indianapolis. What is bigger for him is the win punches Brad’s ticket to the next round in the NASCAR playoffs.
Kyle Larson rebounded from his early race tire issue to claim the runner-up finish. Martin Truex Jr. crossed the finish line in third place with Joey Logano in fourth place and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five. See the complete results for the Inaugural South Point 400 here.
The playoff leaderboard was shaken up quite a bit after the Las Vegas race. Below is a look at how it looks following Las Vegas.
Things do not get easier for the NASCAR playoff contenders. Next stop in the Round of 12 is the short track of Richmond Raceway for the Federated Auto Parts 400 under the lights this Saturday night September 22nd.
By: Buck Stevens
