South Point 400 Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service BUSCH NOT RELYING ON CUSHION LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch looked simultaneously relaxed in his hometown of Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon and ready to get after it. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin with Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and as the regular season champion, Busch starts the 10-race championship push as the top-seed among the 16 Playoff drivers. On-track action begins Friday with opening Cup practice. Busch’s onlyRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer Even with a penalty causing him to start from the rear of the South Point 400, Austin Dillon flew under the radar at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With nine of the 16 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid drivers involved in incidents, Dillon quietly kept his nose out of trouble. Dillon finished just outside the Top-10 after being forced to climb through the field throughout the race. Halfway into the first stage, his No. 3 Dow Frost Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 finally caught up to JimmieRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor All year long, the talk of the NASCAR world has revolved around the “Big Three” and everyone wondering who would be the fourth driver to join then in the championship race at Homestead in November. Well, that question has been answered and it’s Brad Keselowski. Prior to the last few weeks, two drivers in the “Big Three”, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, had delivered a three-peat of wins, and now that group has a new member in Keselowski. In addition to making it three in aRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor When looking at the 10 races that make up the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway would not have been the one many circled to give the drivers competing for the championship the most issues, but by the time the checkered flag flew, more than half of the 16 playoff drivers ran into problems of some sort. Kyle Larson kicked things off with a blown tire early in Stage 1, but luckily for him, he was ableRead More

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney was among those starting the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs strong. The third-year driver avoided the misfortunes of most Playoff Grid drivers to finish fifth in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Over the course of the final restarts, Blaney’s No. 12 PPG Ford Fusion was in tow with his Team Penske teammates. In the chaotic scramble in overtime he battled three-wide with Kyle Larson and defending champion Martin Truex, Jr. While Larson and Truex chasedRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – In a war of attrition that caused a multitude of problems for the majority of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders, Brad Keselowski emerged unscathed with his third straight victory in the series and the 500th triumph for Team Penske in all forms of racing combined. Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Playoff opener for NASCAR’s foremost series, went to overtime, lasting five laps longer than the scheduled 267. But Keselowski held the top spot through threeRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Not even halfway through the opening race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and two drivers contending for the championship will leave Las Vegas with Lady Luck not on their side. On lap 147 in Sunday’s South Point 400, Kevin Harvick, who entered the day as the co-points leader suffered a blown tire in Turn 1 sending him hard into the outside wall and collecting fellow playoff driver Erik Jones in the process. The crash would relegate Harvick and Jones to 37th and 38th,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Before Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series knockout qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Erik Jones considered himself a sleeper entering the first race of the Playoffs. That was before the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota announced his presence by winning the pole for Sunday’s opening postseason race, the South Point 400. Jones toured the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway in 28.705 seconds (188.121 mph) to earn his first Busch Pole Award of the season and the secondRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – Jimmie Johnson made a lot of eye contact with the reporters eager to gauge his Playoff expectations Thursday afternoon at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Media Day. The sincerity in his voice and the passion of his words left no doubt. He is as motivated as he has ever been to end a first of its kind season-long winless streak. A championship run now would certainly change the narrative. Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman have qualified forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS – You can’t accuse Kevin Harvick of flying under the radar heading into the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs—not a guy with seven victories in 26 regular-season races and speed in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Fords everywhere he goes. But Harvick isn’t approaching the postseason with the braggadocio of an odds-on favorite. “I’m just along for the show,” Harvick said during his appearance at a fan event at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa. “For us, we’ve had aRead More