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 |
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