Yahoo Sports Kyle Busch completes season sweep at Richmond
Kyle Busch is guaranteed to make the second round of the NASCAR playoffs.
Busch started at the back of the field because of an inspection failure and drove through the field to win Saturday night at Richmond. He burst past Brad Keselowski in the final 50 laps of the race and kept Kevin Harvick at bay over the final handful of laps.
Busch won the spring race at Richmond. His win Saturday night is his seventh of the season and ties Harvick for the most in the Cup Series. The victory is Busch’s 50th career Cup Series win and his 193rd win in NASCAR’s top three series.
Keselowski won the first race of the playoffs a week ago and Busch now joins him in the second round. Busch was pretty much a guarantee to make the second round of the playoffs thanks to his points position because of his six regular-season wins. So Saturday night is somewhat of a formality. But it’s also worth five extra points that he can use in the second round.
Martin Truex Jr. also clinched a berth in the second round of the playoffs on Saturday night. He’s 85 points ahead of 13th in the standings. The most a driver can earn in a race is 60. The final race of the first round is next week at the Charlotte roval. It’s the first time NASCAR has used the infield road course portion of the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The race was relatively tame. The only caution for an accident came when Jeffrey Earnhardt had an incident in the final stage. Harvick was second while Martin Truex Jr. finished third. Truex won the race’s first two stages.
Points standings
1. Kyle Busch (Won at Richmond)
2. Brad Keselowski (Las Vegas)
3. Martin Truex Jr. 2,141 points
4. Kevin Harvick, 2,113
5. Joey Logano, 2,081
6. Aric Almirola, 2,079
7. Kyle Larson, 2,073
8. Kurt Busch, 2071
9. Chase Elliott, 2,066
10. Austin Dillon, 2,066
11. Alex Bowman, 2,061
12. Ryan Blaney, 2,060
13. Clint Bowyer, 2056
14. Jimmie Johnson, 2,054
15. Erik Jones, 2,039
16. Denny Hamlin, 2,031
Race results
1. Kyle Busch
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Chase Elliott
5. Aric Almirola
6. Austin Dillon
7. Kyle Larson
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Erik Jones
12. Alex Bowman
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Joey Logano
15. Ryan Newman
16. Denny Hamlin
17. Daniel Suarez
18. Kurt Busch
19. Ryan Blaney
20. William Byron
21. Jamie McMurray
22. Paul Menard
23. David Ragan
24. Michael McDowell
25. Matt Kenseth
26. Cole Custer
27. Bubba Wallace
28. Ty Dillon
29. AJ Allmendinger
30. Chris Buescher
31. Regan Smith
32. Corey LaJoie
33. Ross Chastain
34. Matt DiBenedetto
35. Joey Gase
36. Landon Cassill
37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
38. Alan Day
39. Tommy Hill
40. Gray Gaulding
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
