NASCAR Playoffs at Las Vegas: South Point 400 highlights, stage results

Who will make the first statement of the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs? Find out with updates, highlights and stage results from Las Vegas.

There’s never been a second NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the first one is going to be an important one. The South Point 400 is the first race of the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs, one that could set the tone for the entire chase for the championship.

(We know it’s not called that officially any more, but you know what we mean.)

With all 16 of the playoff drivers starting in the first 18 spots, the action figured to be pretty tight the entire afternoon. A victory locks a contender into the Round of 12, and after Kevin Harvick dominated the spring race in Vegas, the big question was whether he and his No. 4 team would do that again or someone else would come up big.

Stage 1

Pole-sitter Erik Jones got out to the lead for only a couple of laps before Joey Logano assumed the point. He soon had to deal with Harvick and was unable to keep the 4 from taking the lead.

After a round of green flag pit stops, the lead cycled back to Harvick, but another member of the Big 3 was coming on strong.

Truex kind of limped into the playoffs, so a stage win would be big for him, and he managed to snag it to get the first bonus playoff point of the 2018 postseason.

Stage 1 results

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Alex Bowman
4. Kurt Busch
5. Chase Elliott
6. Kyle Busch
7. Joey Logano
8. Erik Jones
9. Aric Almirola
10. Ryan Newman

Stage 2

Nice work by the 78 pit crew kept Truex in the lead, while Bowman hopped up to second. He was still there on the next restart as well, but this time Harvick flexed his muscle on intermediate tracks and moved up to P2.

Another round of pit stops was necessary not too much later, as Ty Dillon had some trouble that led to his tire leaving his car and striking out on its own.

Brad Keselowski was the winner this time around, taking the lead for the first time, but he was soon under pressure from Truex.

What happened next, though, was the kind of incident that could really shake up the playoffs. Harvick blew a right front tire, and Jones smashed into the back of him as the 4 drifted up the track.

The race restarted with only a few laps to go in the stage, and Keselowski, the hottest driver on the circuit, claimed the bonus point

Stage 2 results

1. Brad Keselowski
2. Kurt Busch
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Jimmie Johnson
5. Jamie McMurray
6. Joey Logano
7. Chase Elliott
8. Ryan Blaney
9. Alex Bowman
10. Kyle Larson

Final stage

Pit strategy to the rescue? Out of sequence with most of the lead lap cars thanks to some early issues, Kyle Larson restarted the race in first place, followed by his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray. However, it was only a matter of time until cars with fresher tires ran him down, and Keselowski was the first to do so.

Not long after, the caution flag flew again for William Byron finding the wall with his No. 24 Chevrolet. But it was the next yellow flag that was costly for another championship hopeful.

McMurray, who had radioed in asking his team if it saw damage on his Chevy after he got into the wall, obviously had some as he spun out, slid into the outside wall and clipped Chase Elliott on the way there. Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet left a long black streak on the SAFER barrier before it came to a rest.

That wasn’t the last playoff driver who would have an issue. Kyle Busch spun out up high and found his way all the way down into the grass, bringing out yet another caution and sending all the lead lap cars to pit road.

For Kyle Busch, it could have been much worse.

In the most exciting restart of the race so far, Keselowski got out front but had to deal with a three-wide challenge from Logano and Larson. Despite tire smoke apparently coming from the left rear of his 42 car, Larson used the high line to get to the front while Keselowski worked the low lane trying to make the pass.

While they continued to battle it out, another playoff driver ended up going on an unwanted trip through the grass. Denny Hamlin was the one to roll craps this time, and his journey into the infield was much rougher than the one Kyle Busch made.

Keselowski prevailed on the ensuing restart, getting way out ahead of the pack while Larson, Logano and Truex ended up battling for second. It wasn’t long before the yellow came back out anyway, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. smashing up his SunnyD ride.

More problems for playoff contenders awaited. Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman both had tire issues, though not bad enough to bring out another caution. Ryan Blaney, not a real factor for much of the day, got to second, right before the 11th caution flag came out.

It felt unlikely that things would stay green the rest of the way, given the chaos that had enveloped most of the final stage. Sure enough, a multi-car crash back in the field that caught Kurt Busch up in its wrath forced NASCAR to red flag the race to prepare for overtime.

After a brief pause to check in on the IndyCar finale, the race got rolling again for overtime attempt number one. There was relatively little drama this time around, with Keselowski rocketing out to a pretty nice lead and watching everyone battle for position behind him.

Larson made a final charge for second, but no one challenged Brad K. as he won his third consecutive race for the first time in his career, as well as the 500th win ever for Team Penske across all racing series.