Date: Sept. 16, 2018
Event: South Point 400 (Round 27 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 272 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/112 laps with overtime)
Start/Finish: 5th/39th (Running, completed 147 of 272 laps)
Point Standing: 4th with 2,060 points, 38 ahead of top-12 cutoff)
Race Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Furniture Row Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Brad Keselowski of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-80):
● Kevin Harvick started fifth and finished second, earning nine bonus points.
● Harvick raced the Mobil 1 Ford to the lead by lap 34.
● He surrendered the lead to come to pit road under green-flag conditions on lap 38 for four tires and fuel.
● The No. 4 Ford raced back to the lead on lap 50.
● Harvick dropped back to second when the No. 78 completed the pass for the lead.
● The Mobil 1 Ford came to pit road at the end of the stage for four tires, fuel and wedge and air pressure adjustments.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 81-160):
● Harvick started fifth and finished 37th.
● He raced up to the fourth position by the lap-90 caution, and the team decided to stay out.
● The No. 4 Ford restarted fourth on lap 93 and raced up to the second position.
● Harvick brought the No. 4 Ford to pit road for four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments on lap 112.
● The Mobil 1 Ford dropped back to the seventh position on the restart, and Harvick noted the car wouldn’t turn.
● Harvick raced back into the top-five by lap 137, but again he noted an issue with the tire.
● The No. 4 Ford cut a right-front tire on lap 147, resulting in heavy contact with the wall between turns one and two and ending Harvick’s day.
Notes:
● Harvick finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points.
● Harvick led twice for 14 laps to increase his laps-led total at Las Vegas to 452.
● Brad Keselowski won the South Point 400 to score his 27th career Cup Series victory, his third of the season and third in a row, and his third at Las Vegas. His margin of victory over second-place Kyle Larson was 1.276 seconds.
● There were 12 caution periods for a total of 59 laps.
● Eighteen of the 40 drivers in the South Point 400 finished on the lead lap.
● A 10-minute, 37-second red-flag period just before the end of the race set up a green-white-checkered finish that sent the race into overtime.
Playoff Standings:
1. Brad Keselowski (2,069 points) 1 win
2. Martin Truex Jr. (2,087 points) +65 points
3. Kyle Busch (2,085 points) +63 points
4. Kevin Harvick (2,060 points) +38 points
5. Joey Logano (2,056 points) +34 points
6. Kurt Busch (2,046 points) +24 points
7. Ryan Blaney (2,042 points) +20 points
8. Kyle Larson (2,041 points) +19 points
9. Aric Almirola (2,034 points) +12 points
10. Austin Dillon (2,031 points) +9 points
11. Clint Bowyer (2,029 points) +7 points
12. Alex Bowman (2,028 points) +6 points
13. Jimmie Johnson (2,022 points) -6 points
14. Chase Elliott (2,019 points) -9 points
15. Erik Jones (2,009 points) -19 points
16. Denny Hamlin (2,008 points) -20 points
