Truex chases down Harvick, advances to 2nd round of playoffs
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Martin Truex Jr. raced his way into the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs with a victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the opening round of the postseason.
The win is Truex’s series-best fifth of the season and again cemented Joe Gibbs Racing as the team to beat in this 10-race playoff series. JGR has 14 wins in its Toyotas this season through 27 races.
Truex chased down Kevin Harvick, who was slowed by traffic, to cut into Harvick’s lead and eventually make the pass for the win — and the automatic secondround spot — on the outside with 20 laps remaining. “I was able to hustle the car there at the end and get the lead and drive away,” Truex said. “These next two weeks are all about bonus points. This is big today to get six [points]. Those are really important to get to [the finale].”
Las Vegas was a brutal opener for a handful of title contenders, including Kurt Busch, who crashed when his tire went flat and he finished last. Erik Jones had an earlier mechanical issue and finished four spots higher in 36th.
The top 10 finishers were all playoff contenders as Truex was followed by Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, reigning champion Joey Logano and Ryan Newman.
Harvick credited his StewartHaas Racing team with making massive gains all weekend to get him to a second place finish.
“We were way off when we got here this weekend. They just kept working. We qualified well,” Harvick said. “I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough. Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run. He made up that ground there, was able to stay close enough to us. My car started to get loose and push the front.”