Kevin Harvick held off high challenger Kyle Busch on Saturday night time, notching his ninth victory of the NASCAR Cup Sequence season because the playoff area was trimmed from 16 to 12 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
RELATED: Unofficial results
Harvick’s No. four Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led 226 of the 500 laps within the annual Bass Professional Outlets Night time Race, which was held in the course of the playoffs for the primary time. His third win on the .533-mile Tennessee observe was the 58th of his Cup Sequence profession.
Busch completed second for the fourth time this season within the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, extending his season-long winless skid to 29 races. Erik Jones took third place with rookie Tyler Reddick fourth and Aric Almirola fifth.
Harvick and Brad Keselowski had already clinched spots within the subsequent three-race set within the 10-race postseason, on the premise of wins earlier within the Spherical of 16. Denny Hamlin was already within the Spherical of 12 along with his factors edge. Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Busch, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Almirola and Kurt Busch additionally superior on factors.
Eradicated from the playoffs had been rookie Cole Custer, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto.
Byron’s destiny was the primary one settled. His No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet retired after simply 232 of 500 laps, sustaining terminal front-end injury in a tangle with Christopher Bell and Joey Gase. Byron completed 38th within the 40-car area.
DiBenedetto fell three laps down after making an unscheduled pit cease with the No. 21 Wooden Brothers Racing Ford for a unfastened wheel on Lap 186. He rallied to return to the lead lap early in Stage three however wound up three laps again in 19th and out of the playoffs.
The NASCAR Cup Sequence’ subsequent race is the South Level 400, scheduled Sept. 27 (7 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports activities App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The occasion is the primary of three races within the postseason’s Spherical of 12.
This story will likely be up to date.
