NASCAR at Las Vegas 2019 Results: Martin Truex Jr. Wins; Advances to 2nd Round

Martin Truex Jr. advanced to the next round of the 2019 NASCAR playoffs with a victory in the South Point 400 on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Truex dominated late, leading 32 laps and cruising to his fifth checkered flag. He finished 4.173 seconds ahead of second-place Kevin Harvick.

Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five, with the full leaderboard available at NASCAR.com.

South Point 400 Leaderboard

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Chase Elliott

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Alex Bowman

7. William Byron

8. Kyle Larson

9. Joey Logano

10. Ryan Newman

"It takes the pressure off for sure, and the biggest thing is just more playoff points," Truex said of the win, per the Associated Press (via USA Today). "And that's huge. Any playoff points you can get will help you get to Homestead."

Truex can now rest a little easier knowing he's through to the next round, and the scores will once again reset when the first round concludes. As he noted, though, playoff points do carry over. A driver can earn five points for a race win and one point for winning a stage.

Five points separated Truex from cup champion Joey Logano last year. That was the same gap in 2017 when Truex beat out Kyle Busch, and the difference was even smaller (three points) when Jimmie Johnson edged out Logano in 2016.

Truex isn't wrong when he highlights the need to collect whatever points he can accumulate over the next two weeks.

Kurt Busch's hopes of advancing to the next round took a big hit as his race ended early.

Shortly after a restart on the 186th lap, Busch was caught in a four-wide situation. With nowhere to go, he was stuck between Truex and Elliott and absorbed contact to his driver's side wheel well from the No. 19 car.

Busch briefly continued on, but the damage eventually wore down his tire too much, leaving him unable to avoid slamming into the wall.

Busch entered Sunday in eighth place with 2,011 points. After the South Point 400, he's now in 14th place with 2,019 points.

While the focus was on Busch following the restart, Logano didn't come away unscathed either as he made contact with Daniel Suarez. His race changed drastically as a result.

Logano led 105 laps and seemed poised to push for a win when the final stretch arrived. Instead, the No. 22 car headed to pit road for a time-consuming stop for the necessary fixes.

Unlike Busch, Logano returned to the race but couldn't climb back into contention. Although finishing in ninth is a bitter pill to swallow given how long he led, the result could have been worse.

Kyle Busch came away frustrated as well, focusing his anger on the lapped cars. He rammed into the back of Garrett Smithley, which caused damage to his front end.

Busch subsequently started losing positions and wound up in 19th. He didn't hide his feelings in his post-race interview:

He's still in fourth place overall with 2,063 points, so all isn't lost for the 2015 cup champion.

The same can't be said of his brother and the trio of Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Erik Jones. They occupy the bottom four spots in the playoff field. Jones, in particular, is in serious trouble. He's 26 points back of Aric Almirola in 12th.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series moves to Richmond Raceway on Saturday for the Federated Auto Parts 400.