Truex Wins Playoff Opener in Las Vegas

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the South Point 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday night.

Truex won the opening race of the playoffs by chasing down Kevin Harvick over the final run.

Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Truex said his team struggled with speed throughout the weekend, but a gamble in the setup by crew chief Cole Pearn helped propel them to victory.

“We took a gamble this weekend and qualified 24th, and for a while it wasn’t looking too smart,” Truex said.  “Got the right adjustments at the end…and at the end I was able to hustle all the way to the checkers.”

Truex was behind Harvick following the final green flag pit stops.  After Harvick struggled to get through lapped traffic, Truex was able to take the lead and run away to take the victory.

The win locked Truex into the next round of the playoffs, and he said his team can now focus on picking up stage points over the next two weeks.

“It takes the pressure off,” Truex said.  “Next two weeks we can just try to get more [playoff points], so that’s huge. Playoff points you can get will help you get to Homestead.”

Harvick settled for second after having a strong car for most of the race, but said the handling went away on his car the longer into the run it went.

“My car started to get loose and push the front, and it was just kind of in a four-wheel drift,” Harvick said.  “I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough, and Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Chase Elliott

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Alex Bowman

7. William Byron

8. Kyle Larson

9. Joey Logano

10. Ryan Newman

11. Jimmie Johnson

12. Austin Dillon

13. Aric Almirola

14. Paul Menard

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Ty Dillon

17. Daniel Hemric

18. Chris Buescher

19. Kyle Busch

20. Daniel Suarez

21. Matt DiBenedetto

22. David Ragan

23. Bubba Wallace

24. Michael McDowell

25. Clint Bowyer

26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

27. Ryan Preece

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Landon Cassill

30. Matt Tifft

31. Ross Chastain

32. JJ Yeley

33. BJ McLeod

34. Joe Nemechek

35. Garrett Smithley

36. Erik Jones

37. Reed Sorenson

38. Joey Gase

39. Kurt Busch

Chris Graythen/Getty Images