It was a big weekend for all three seres in NASCAR with the Craftsman Truck Series ending round on of the playoffs, the Xfinity Series set their field of playoff drivers, and the Cup Series ran the second race in round one of the playoffs.
Capping off the triple header weekend, the Cup Series drivers needed a few extra laps to decide the winner; but in the end Tyler Reddick secured his spot in the next round of the playoffs with an overtime win to help celebrate 23XI Racing’s 100th Cup Series start. Despite a good start that saw him among the top drivers in the field, Bubba Wallace finished five laps down after a blown tire sent his number 23 car into the wall.
Regular season champion Martin Truex Jr also got into the wall early and was the first driver out of the race,
Tyler Reddick joins Kyle Larson at the top of the playoff leaderboard with guarantees of a spot in the next round of the playoffs.
Cup Series Playoff Standings:
Kyle Larson – 2117
Tyler Reddick – 2111
Denny Hamlin – 2105
William Byron – 2097
Brad Keselowski – 2089
Ryan Blaney – 2081
Kyle Busch – 2080
Ross Chastain – 2074
Chris Buescher – 2069
Christopher Bell – 2069
Joey Logano – 2068
Kevin Harvick – 2063
Martin Truex Jr – 2056
Bubba Wallace – 2044
Ricky Stenhouse Jr – 2041
Michael McDowell – 2023
Hoping to score enough points to take the regular season championship, John Hunter Nemechek came across the finish line first in the Kansas Lottery 300 for his sixth race win of the season.
With more consistent finishes throughout the season, Austin Hill was named the regular season champion.
In a race that went down to the wire for the last spot in the playoffs, Parker Kligerman edged out Riley Herbst to take the final spot and his first trip to the post season in contention to battle for the championship.
Xfinity Series Playoff Standings:
John Hunter Nemechek – 2049
Austin Hill – 2039
Justin Allgaier – 2026
Cole Custer – 2017
Sam Mayer – 2015
Chandler Smith – 2009
Josh Berry – 2009
Sheldon Creed – 2008
Sammy Smith – 2006
Jeb Burton – 2006
Daniel Hemric – 2003
Parker Kligerman – 2002
The Craftsman Truck Series ended their first round of the playoffs, eliminating the bottom two drivers from the competition – Matt Crafton and Matt DiBenedetto.
Christian Eckes joined Grant Enfinger and Ty Majeski as race winners to secure their spots in the next round of the playoffs.
Craftsman Truck Series Playoff Standings:
Corey Heim – 3030
Christian Eckes – 3024
Grant Enfinger – 3024
Carson Hocevar – 3022
Zane Smith – 3022
Ty Majeski – 3016
Ben Rhodes – 3013
Nick Sanchez – 3006