Playoff drivers knew it was time to go (with the Charlotte Roval looming next weekend), and Kyle Busch rose to the occasion, winning after starting in the rear. He led 92 laps on the night, and set sail after an entertaining battle for the lead with rival Brad Keselowski. Kevin Harvick then began to gain ground on Busch as he worked through lap traffic in the final laps on the 0.75 mile D-shaped oval. “Yeah, that was a little too close for my comfort,” said Busch. “I thought we were a little bit better than that on the long runs, [but] I know Harvick … that’s kind of his specialty. We had a really, really good race car tonight.” (Courtesy of nascar.com) Busch had to start at the rear after hitting the wall in qualifying and damaging his car. “The guys did a great job coming back from a dismal qualifying effort and preparing a really, really good race car for us tonight,” Busch said. “We started dead last, came up through the field and won this thing … I put us a little bit behind yesterday in qualifying, and the guys did a great job rallying to put it together.” (Courtesy of nascar.com) For Busch, it was his sixth time to win at Richmond, but his first time to win the fall race at Richmond. This victory was also the 50th win of his career, tying him for 11th on the all-time win list with Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson; also, it was his 7th win this season. “Hey, I finally won a fall race at Richmond! What do you know?” (Courtesy of nascar.com)

Many other playoff drivers had good nights, with the top 12 finishers being playoff drivers. Chase Elliott went from being 9 below the cutoff to 10 above the cutoff. “I think we made some improvements last night, so that was nice,” Elliott said. “We had probably had one of the worst Fridays I’ve ever had at the track this season yesterday. To run like we did tonight was a breath of fresh air. If you told me yesterday that we were going to run fourth, lead some laps and ultimately get a top five, I would’ve told you you’re crazy.” (Courtesy of frontstretch.com) Austin Dillon also had a good day putting himself 10 points above the cutoff. “I really do think if we get to the next round, we’re competitive,” Dillon said. (Courtesy of nascar.com) The drivers want to have as much of a cushion as possible heading into next weekend’s elimination race at the new Charlotte Roval. The track combines the 1.5 mile oval with the infield road course to create a circuit known as the Roval. It’s a huge unknown, as this weekend will be the first race on the Roval. “We were starting to track him down there at the end,” Kevin Harvick said. “I needed about 25 more laps … any other round of the playoffs, I would say it didn’t matter — we just needed to try to win. But I’m terrified of next week, to tell you the truth, just because there are so many unknowns.” (Courtesy of nascar.com)

Here is the current playoff picture:

Driver Points above/behind Cutoff
Brad Keselowski ADVANCED
Kyle Busch ADVANCED
Martin Truex Jr. ADVANCED
Kevin Harvick +57
Joey Logano +25
Aric Almirola +23
Kyle Larson +17
Kurt Busch +15
Chase Elliott +10
Austin Dillon +10
Alex Bowman +5
Ryan Blaney +4
__________________ Cutoff
13. Clint Bowyer -4
14. Jimmie Johnson -6
15. Erik Jones -21
16. Denny Hamlin -29

Sharma, Ashwini. “2018 NASCAR Cup Series Race Results | Live Leaderboard | Federated Auto Parts 400.” Official Site Of NASCAR, NASCAR.com, 20 Aug. 2018, www.nascar.com/results/race_center/2018/monster-energy-nascar-cup-series/federated-auto-parts-400/stn/race/.

Spencer, Reid. “Results of Richmond NASCAR Race: Kyle Busch Wins.” Official Site Of NASCAR, NASCAR.com, 23 Sept. 2018, www.nascar.com/news-media/2018/09/22/results-richmond-raceway-nascar-playoffs-federated-auto-parts-400-kyle-busch/.

Akomarovski. “2018 NASCAR Playoffs | Monster Energy Series.” Official Site Of NASCAR, NASCAR.com, 22 Aug. 2018, www.nascar.com/playoff-standings/monster-energy-nascar-cup-series/.

Davison, Allie. “Does Austin Dillon Deserve a Round of 12 Spot? He Thinks So.” Official Site Of NASCAR, NASCAR.com, 22 Sept. 2018, www.nascar.com/video/franchise/monster-energy-nascar-cup-post-race-reactions/austin-dillon-deserve-round-12-spot-thinks/.

Segal, Davey. “Chase Elliott Leads Laps, Brings Home Top 5 at Richmond.” Frontstretch, Frontstretch, 23 Sept. 2018, www.frontstretch.com/2018/09/23/chase-elliott-leads-laps-brings-home-top-five-at-richmond/.

Written on September 23, 2018