Busch wins NASCAR Cup playoff race at Richmond

Harvick settles for 2nd as Truex rallies for 3rd

RICHMOND, Virginia, Sept 23, (AP): Kyle Busch passed Brad Keselowski with 38 laps to go and held off hard-charging Kevin Harvick to win the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night.

Busch won for the 50th time in his career, the sixth time on the 0.75-mile oval and for the first time here in the fall.

Harvick closed a gap of more than 1.5 seconds

The race unfolded much like the spring race in April when Joey Logano swept the first two stages, each run without an on-track caution.

This time, it was Truex who completed the sweep, but then his team burned him on pit road. During the caution after the second stage, Truex’s team was penalized for an uncontrolled tire, dropping him to 19th place. After leading 159 laps, he had to play catch up.

Like Logano, who wound up fourth in the spring, Truex never quite caught up, finishing 5.8 seconds off the lead.

The night was not as eventful as local favorite Denny Hamlin had hoped.

Hamlin, who grew up about 20 miles from the track, started the night 16th in the playoff standings and with hopes of winning stage points and a top finish. He got spun by Ricky Stenhouse Jr about halfway through the opening stage, had to pit under a green flag but scrambled all the way back to ninth before the stage was completed.

He didn’t make it in the top 10 on the second stage, and then tried to reprise his fresh tire surge by pitting under green with about 75 laps to go. But while he was on pit road under a green flag, Matt Kenseth made contact with Jeffrey Earnhardt, who spun into the wall and brought out a caution, putting Hamlin a lap down. The Chesterfield native finished 16th.