NASCAR Playoffs at Richmond: Federated Auto parts 400 highlights, stage results

The Big 3 will look to reimpose their will at Richmond after a chaotic first playoff race gave a late-season star some momentum.

The 2018 NASCAR Playoffs started the same way the regular season ended, with Brad Keselowski celebrating another win. His third straight victory locked him into the Round of 12 ahead of the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway ahead of the Big 3 of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., and no one would have expected that even a few weeks ago.

Vegas was supposed to be the calmest opening round playoff race, but once that idea went out the window, the question for Richmond was whether there was now truly a Big 4 or if one of the drivers who dominated most of the regular season would rediscover their magic touch. Harvick made his statement on Friday evening, recording the fastest qualifying time, with Truex third-fastest and not far off.

For the multiple championship contenders who rolled craps in Las Vegas, Richmond figured to be equal parts anxiety and opportunity. A win would allow the first playoff mirror to be put safely behind them, while another subpar finish might spell doom.

Stage 1

The outside was not the place to be when the green flag dropped, as Denny Hamlin found to his dismay. Harvick was able to get comfortably out in front, and it was Truex, not Hamlin, who quickly became his top challenger for the lead.

Truex was in range to challenge for the lead around 25 laps in, but he was mot having the same success passing Harvick as he did catching him. It took some doing, but after following Harvick through lapped traffic, Truex was able to make his move and take over the point.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who tried an unorthodox pit strategy in the spring, pitted halfway through the opening stage again. His car was so good on new rubber that he came up on Denny Hamlin fast and hit him from behind, though he made a great save and didn’t spin out.

That brought Hamlin to the pits and essentially put him on the same strategy as the car that hit him.

Up front, turnabout was fair play, and Harvick’s Ford was better than Truex’s Toyota on the long run —just not quite good enough to retake the lead. Keselowski closed to Harvick’s back bumper, but on the final lap, he slid up the track and barely avoided running into a lapped car. Truex held off Harvick for the stage win, while Hamlin made it all the way back into the top 10 after going a lap down.

Stage 1 results

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

Stage 2

Though the race leader wasn’t ever able to pull away from the field throughout Stage 1, whoever it might be, that wasn’t the case after the break. Truex jumped out to well over a second and a half over Harvick, who in turn was about that far ahead of third-place Aric Almirola.

Someone was bound to roll the dice on the mid-stage green flag stop strategy this time around, and Joey Logano was the first to try it. Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney, neither of whom were running particularly well, also decided to take a shot at it.

That ended up not mattering much in terms of the stage win, as Truex led every lap in Stage 2 and took his second green and white checkered flag of the night.

Stage 2 results

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Aric Almirola
4. Chase Elliott
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Alex Bowman
7. Austin Dillon
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Kyle Larson
10. Joey Logano

Final stage

Could anything slow Truex down? As it turned out, yes. An uncontrolled tire penalty on the 78 crew did what other cars couldn’t and finally shuffled him back in the field.

His misfortune was a boon for the 9, as Chase Elliott led laps for the first time.

Elliott would soon have to contend with the hottest driver in NASCAR.

But he’d manage to repay the favor before too long.

However, a round of green flag pit stops, the first of the race, worked out for the 2.

And once everyone was in and out, a car that hadn’t been heard from much in the playoffs suddenly was in the mix. Kyle Busch found himself in P1 approaching 100 laps to go.

For a short track race, this one had precious few cautions, but one came out with just under 75 laps to go, as Matt Kenseth made contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt, spinning him and bringing out a yellow flag. Kyle Busch had a large gap going into the pits, and he easily made it off pit rad in first, followed by Harvick and Keselowski.

However, Kyle Busch wasn’t able to drive away. Keselowski was able to track down the 18 and pass him to get back in the lead with less than 60 laps remaining, though Kyle Busch was hot in his tracks and trying to take back the point.

It took until there were 37 laps to go to pull it off, but Kyle Busch was able to finally make his way past Keselowski, and it looked like he would drive away once he did it.

With the laps ticking down, it was shaping up to be a duel between Kyle Busch and Harvick for the victory, something that happened more than once in the regular season. The lead was down to about one second, but Harvick wasn’t gaining much ground with 10 laps to go.

Harvick got as close as half a second but no closer, and Kyle Busch finished his season sweep at Richmond, advancing to the second round of the NASCAR Playoffs with his 50th Cup Series victory.