September 15, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Truex triumphs in Las Vegas Playoff opener

“Welcome back,” Martin Truex Jr. told his team after winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 

After 11 races without a win, welcome back indeed. 

With four victories prior to Sunday, Truex easily transferred to the post-season and was third in the standings after bonus points were tallied entering the Playoffs. But after not finishing on the lead lap in the previous three races, Truex and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team needed a statement win to get them back on track. 

“I think it’s huge,” Truex said. “I think it’s huge for a lot of reasons. We had cars capable of winning and nothing to show for it, but we knew we were fast.           

“Thanks to Toyota, TRD, Auto Owners, everyone who makes this happen for us. Hell of a way to make a championship run. Get some good bonus points, move on to the next round, see what we can do there.”

Kevin Harvick finished second, followed by Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Ryan Newman.

“We qualified well,” said Harvick, who started third. “Wasn't where we wanted when we started the race. Got stage points, led there late, gave ourselves an opportunity.

“I knew the Gibbs cars would be tough. Martin was just so much better on the second half of the run. He made up that ground there, was able to stay close enough to us. My car started to get loose and push the front. It was just in kind of a four‑wheel drift."

Clint Bowyer led the field to green but faded early and finished 25th, one lap down. Daniel Suarez took the lead on Lap 2 and led the next 29 circuits. Kyle Busch slapped the wall two laps in. He pitted on Lap 12, then dropped two laps off of the pace. 

Logano led a race-high 105 laps starting on Lap 34. After pit stops, he regained the point on Lap 59 and held on to win Stage 1. Harvick, Aric Almirola, Suarez, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Byron, Truex, Larson and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10 after the first 80-lap segment.

Harvick took the lead in the pits. The race returned to green on Lap 87. Jones’ throttle hung and he hit the wall. Jones was forced to take the No. 20 Toyota to the garage on Lap 92. Although he returned to race, Jones finished 36th, 13 laps off the pace. He dropped to 16th in the standings.

Byron led Lap 87 before Logano rolled back to the lead on Lap 88. Again, he gave up the point temporarily to pit and was back in charge on Lap 125. Logano led an additional 33 circuits before Truex passed the No. 22 Team Penske Ford with three laps to go in Stage 2. Truex kept the streak alive as the fifth driver to win the second segment at Las Vegas and win the race as well.

Logano finished second in Stage 2, with Larson, Harvick, Elliott, Byron, Hamlin, Blaney, Kurt Busch and Bowman rounding out the top 10.

Truex held the point to start the final segment, followed by Logano, Elliott, Harvick, Hamlin, Bowman and Blaney. The hits kept coming for Playoff contenders as Byron tagged the wall and spun near the entrance to pit road on Lap 181, triggering the third caution. 

Kurt Busch, who was running eighth, bounced off Truex's Toyota on the Lap 186 restart and developed a tire rub. Despite wanting to pit, the Ganassi Racing team kept the No. 1 Chevy on the track and Busch destroyed the car after hitting the Turn 3 wall two laps later. Busch finished 39th and fell to 14th in points.

“We were trying to go for the same spot—in the middle,” Busch said. “We ended up four wide, got a fender rub and our day is done. It just happens that fast.”

Harvick had taken the lead just prior to Busch’s wreck. The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford led for 43 laps until green flag pit stops. He cycled back to the lead on Lap 247, but had nothing for Truex at the end of the South Point 400.

“It was a lot of fun tonight, and anytime you get a car like that, you have fun,” Truex said. “But we did have our challenges. It wasn’t easy for sure; we had to go to the back that one time for a pit road deal and work our way back to the front and then our car got off, and we lost some spots on that one run and luckily, we got a caution and was able to come in and fix it. We just had to do all the little things right. 

“We went back and forth loose-tight, loose-tight and we just hit it right on that last run. I think the 4 (Harvick) missed it a little. It was so easy to do tonight. You’d be good one run and sideways the next and you couldn’t go anywhere. Then you’d be good; it was just back and forth. We hit it right when we needed. The 4 was really strong, but we took a gamble to have extra downforce and qualify 24th and it paid off tonight.”

Truex took over the lead in the Playoff standings by three points over Harvick. Kyle Busch, the regular season champion, dropped to fourth, 19-points behind Truex.

“These next two weeks are all about bonus points,” Truex said. “This is big today to get six. Those are really important to get to Homestead.”