Today marked the start of the penultimate round of the NASCAR playoffs, let’s talk about it!
The race started with Christopher Bell leading off the initial start before Kyle Larson passed him on lap 3. Bell was able to pass Larson back on lap 30 and Larson got the lead back on green flag pit stop cycles. We had our first caution at lap 66 when Erik Jones cut a tire and put debris on the track. Bell won the race off out road with a two tire call but Larson retook the lead on the restart and won the stage. Chris Buescher was the only playoff driver to finish outside of stage points.
Stage 2 was a bit more chaotic, with Martin Truex Jr. leading Denny Hamlin to the green flag after staying out at the end of stage 1. Truex holds point initially but Hamlin manages to get around him on lap 92 and holds the lead until lap 112 for a blown right rear tire on the #42 of Carson Hocevar. On the restart Brad Keselowski manages to clear Larson and holds point. On lap 141 Larson goes almost completely sideways off of turn two but he manages to save it. 4 laps later his teammate Alex Bowman tries to catch it off of turn 4 and wrecks into the wall ending his day. Keselowski leads off the ensuing restart over William Byron before Larson reclaims the point with 10 laps to go in stage 2 and wins the stage having swept both here today. Buescher and Truex both finish outside of stage points in stage 2.
In the final stage Bell wins the race off pit road over Ross Chastain and Larson. He manages to keep the lead off the restart despite Chastain’s best efforts. He holds the lead until Chase Briscoe has a tire go down bringing out the caution on lap 210. Larson beatss Keselowski and Bell off of pit road. On the restart Ty Gibbs cuts a true and hits the wall hard bringing out another caution, his lug was not secure and the entire tire came off as he slowed down into turn 3. On the following restart Larson holds the lead over Keselowski.
Bell got around Keselowski for 2nd with 21 to go and was turning laps quicker than Larson with clean air on the nose of his Camry. He managed to close the gap to half a second with 5 laps to go in the race. He managed to pull up beside Larson coming to the line but Larson comes out on top in Las Vegas! Larson domainates the start of the round of 8 and locks himself into the championship 4 at Phoenix. A great performance by both driver and team to set their sights on a championship in 3 weeks!
Photo Credit: @puffadda
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