Kyle Larson won the Dixie Vodka 400 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race on Sunday, dominating the field with wins in both stages while leading 199 of the 267 laos.
Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ, had been eliminated from the playoffs in the last round, but he was able to race his way to this third victory of the season, beating playoff contender Ross Chastain to the line by 1.261 seconds.
A.J. Allmendinger was third with Austin Dillon and Racing’s Brad Keselowski rounding out the top five.
Only two playoff drivers finished in the Top 10 on Sunday: Chastain and Denny Hamlin, who was seventh in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Playoff drivers Christopher Bell (11th), Sunday’s polesitter William Byron (12th), Chase Elliott (14th), Ryan Blaney (17th) and Joey Logano (18th) were still running on the lead lap at the checkered flag.
The eighth playoff-eligible driver, Chase Briscoe, finished last (36th) after making contact with the wall on lap 160.
Logano is the only playoff driver who has already earned his position in the Championship 4 race thanks to a victory at Las Vegas a week ago.
Chastain, Elliott and Byron, for the moment, complete the Top 4 driver ranking.
Hamlin sits in fifth place, five points below Byron. Blaney is 18 points below the cutline, Bell, 33 back and Briscoe now essentially in a must-win situation, trailing by 44 points.
The final race to set the Championship 4 is this coming Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, the Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Alex Bowman is the defending race winner, but won’t be competing while recovering from concussion-like symptoms.
Byron won at Martinsville earlier this season.
Share
Chris Graham
