2018 South Point 400

The 2018 South Point 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on September 16, 2018 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. Contested over 272 laps -- extended from 267 laps due to an overtime finish, on the 1.5 mi asphalt intermediate speedway, it was the 27th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, first race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 16.

Background
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada outside the Las Vegas city limits and about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a 1200 acre complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

First practice
Joey Logano was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.473 seconds and a speed of 189.653 mph.

Qualifying
Erik Jones scored the pole for the race with a time of 28.705 and a speed of 188.121 mph.

Second practice
Ryan Newman was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 29.365 seconds and a speed of 183.892 mph.

Final practice
Erik Jones was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.793 seconds and a speed of 181.251 mph.

The Start
Jones led the pack into turn one, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch ran him down and passed Jones who settled into third. Just prior to green flag pit stops beginning at lap 36, Harvick drove to the front. Truex Jr. was also hanging around the top 5, as the “Big 3” began to assert themselves.

Stages are 80, 80, and 107 laps for The South Point 400 with each segment requiring at least 1 pit stop. After 60 laps Truex Jr. took the lead. With 10 laps to go in Stage 1, the Big 3 were in the top 4.

Truex Jr. held on to win the Stage. Harvick finished second. Kyle Busch finished in 6th as Chase Elliott(9) passed him coming to the green/white checkered flag.

Stage 2
On lap 147, Harvick lost a right front tire and hit the Turn 1 wall. Erik Jones could not avoid him and ran into the back of Harvick’s car. Harvick had accumulated 50 playoff points going into this race. Jones just 5. It will put Jones in a difficult position with 2 races to go.

Brad Keselowski(2), going for his third win in a row, used fast pit stops to take and maintain the lead late in Stage 2. Kurt Busch(41), and Truex Jr. followed him across the line. If Keselowski can win the South Point 400, it will be the 500th win for Team Penske in all forms of motorsport.

The Final Stage
The intensity really cranked up in the final stage of the race. It was almost unreal the number of playoff contenders that encountered difficulty during the last 100 laps of the race.

On Lap 213 Chase Elliott could not avoid the car of Jamie McMurray(1) who spun directly in front of Elliott entering Turn 3. The resulting damage eliminated both cars from the race.

With 38 laps to go, Kyle Busch’s car turned sideways coming out of Turn 4 and slid towards the infield grass. Busch managed to somewhat straighten the car and keep the front splitter from being torn apart. He was able to continue after repairs on pit road by his crew.

With 24 laps to go Denny Hamlin lost control in almost the same spot as Kyle Busch. The difference, Hamlin slid sideways into the grass and completely destroyed the front end of the race car ending his day.

A multi-car accident with 11 laps to go involved several playoff contenders. Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch all received damage in the wreck, but were able to finish the race. Kurt Busch still comfortably sits in sixth place in the playoff standings, but the others are all hovering around the elimination line.

Overtime Finish
A caution for debris on the track with 9 laps to go bunched the field for a late restart. The tight racing for position triggered an incident that damaged Kurt Busch’s car and his chances at a top finish.

While all this was going on Keselowski battled Kyle Larson for the lead. The final restart came in a NASCAR Overtime shootout. Ultimately prevailing for his 3rd victory in a row Keselowski gave Roger Penske his 500th team win in dramatic fashion.

Stage Results
Stage 1 Laps: 80

Stage 2 Laps: 80

Final Stage Results
Stage 3 Laps: 107

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 9 among different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 12 for 59
 * Red flags: 1 for 10 minutes and 37 seconds
 * Time of race: 3 hours, 28 minutes and 15 seconds
 * Average speed: 111.849 mph

Television
NBC Sports called the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Parker Kligerman, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio
PRN covered the radio call for the race which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini called the race in the booth when the field raced through the tri-oval. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field raced through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field raced through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Heather Debeaux worked pit road for the radio side.

Standings after the race

 * Manufacturers' Championship standings
 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.