The second race of the NASCAR 2018 Playoffs took place under the lights Saturday night (9/22) at Richmond Raceway in the Federated Auto Parts 400. Kyle Busch raced from “worst to first” to sweep the 2018 Cup Series races at the track and advance to the Round of 12.
Kyle’s qualifying time earned him a start in the top 12. However, his team was relegated to starting from the back of the field (39th place) after failing the pre-race inspection and being penalized for “unapproved adjustments” to the #18 Toyota.
When the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series goes “short trackin’” things can often get crazy and drama unfolds from start to finish. This time the drivers kept things tame and clean. In fact, there were only two caution periods through the first 200 laps of the 400 lap race. Both of those yellow flags were issued at the end of the first two stages of the race that Martin Truex Jr. won.
Martin had served notice that he was the car to beat to that point of the race. He led a race high 2163 laps Saturday night. However, during a pit-stop he fell victim to a mistake by his crew when he was penalized for an “uncontrolled tire” during the stop. This moved him back in the field and required him to have to race through the field for the remained of the race.
Kyle started from the back and early in the race did not have a car that could challenge for the win. The opposite of Martin’s situation, Kyle’s crew adjusted on his car during pit-stops to get him better through the race as he moved closer and closer to the front of the field.
Kyle eventually was able to get to the lead of the race on lap 287. He exchanged the lead a couple of times with Brad Keselowski through final laps of the race. However, when he raced past Brad to the lead on lap 364 Kyle held on to it for the final 37 laps to score the win in both races at the track in 2018 in NASCAR’s top division. The win is Kyle’s seventh of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, his sixth cup series win at Richmond Raceway and his 50th career NASCAR win. More importantly right now is that the win automatically advances him to the next round in the playoffs.
Kevin Harvick raced to a second place finish with Martin Truex Jr. being able to recover from his pit-row penalty for a third place finish. Chase Elliott claimed a fourth place finish while Aric Almirola claimed fifth place. See the complete race results for the Federated Auto Parts 400 here.
There is one race remaining in the first round of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch have secured their spot in round two by winning the first two races in this round. Martin Truex Jr.’s early success in the Richmond race (and resulting bonus points) and third place finish gave him enough points to clinch his spot in round two. The remaining 13 drivers currently on the NASCAR Playoffs Leader Board have to worry about being eliminated next week.
That fear is very real as for the first time ever NASCAR will race the Roval of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The “roval course” is part road course and part oval and is a complete unknown to every driver and team. That will make it both exciting for the fans and treacherous to the drivers.
We will all see what this first-time-ever race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will hold for the playoff drivers (and every other driver) Sunday afternoon, September 30th at 1:00 PM central time (2:00 PM eastern time) in the Bank of America Roval 400.
By: Buck Stevens
