Brad Keselowski won his third consecutive race on Sunday, taking the checkered flag in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the first leg of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff.
The win clinches advancement to the second round of the playoffs for Keselowski, meaning he will be one of the 12 drivers to go through following the third postseason race.
Pulling Away in Overtime
Sunday’s race was set up for an exciting finish, as the action went to overtime and took an extra five laps to complete. The ending came on a two-lap shootout after a final restart, giving the entire field one last chance to maneuver for position.
But Keselowski easily pulled away from the pack, and by the end of the first shootout lap, there was little doubt that he would earn the win. Keselowski crossed the finish line 1.276 seconds ahead of Kyle Larson, who took the runner-up position.
“To start off the playoffs with a win is really strong,” Keselowski said after the race. “I know it’s three in a row and all that great stuff, but it’s really a testament to this team.”
Keselowski credited his team with the win, saying that they’ve managed to pull off three straight victories without having the best car in the field.
“We put everything together when it counted, and we kind of stole it today,” he said. “I feel like we stole the last three races. We’re not complaining, but we still have a lot of work to do to go out there and win heads-up without those issues.”
Martin Truex Jr. took third place behind Keselowski and Larson, with Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five. The top seven finishers were all among the 16 drivers taking part in the playoffs.
However, some of the playoff drivers were not so fortunate. Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones were involved in an accident 147 laps into the race, forcing them out in 39th and 40th places respectively. That caused Harvick to fall to fourth place in the driver standings, while Jones sits in 15th, 19 points below the cut line.
Harvick had harsh words for his Goodyear tires after the race, as it was a flat that caused him to slow and hit the wall, leading to the accident.
“There was something wrong from the time we put the tires on,” Harvick told reporters. “It’s like Russian roulette every time you put these piece of crap tires on and try to drive around the track.”
Oppressive Heat
While the race itself provided plenty of thrills, it drew a surprisingly small audience considering it kicked off the NASCAR postseason. While NASCAR doesn’t announce attendance figures, the Las Vegas Review-Journal provided a media estimate that pegged the attendance at 45,000. That would be the lowest-attended NASCAR Cup Series race in the history of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
While NASCAR attendance has been down in recent years, there were other factors in play on Sunday. The race was competing against NFL football, and 100-degree temperatures in Las Vegas may have dissuaded some fans from attending.
“We’re already talking to NASCAR and NBC about the possibility of racing later in the day,” Las Vegas Motor Speedway president Chris Powell told the Review-Journal, admitting that the temperature was an issue. “But this is our first go-round in September; we’re learning and we’ll continue to learn and make things better.”
