Saturday night’s Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was Christopher Bell’s race to lose. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver took over the lead on the opening lap and would lead 154 of the first 169 laps. Unfortunately for him, his main rival for this year’s NASCAR XFINITY Series championship had nothing to lose on Saturday and went all-in.
See, Tyler Reddick clinched the regular season championship in this race. He knew that he would be receiving 15 additional playoff points when the checkered flag flew and it didn’t matter where he finished to get them. So, his crew chief decided to go off strategy towards the end of the race in order to try to steal a win as well.
Reddick, hit pit lane on Lap 130 as it was a move that they thought would either net them a win or they’d run out of gas trying. Bell, hit pit lane for the final time on Lap 169 as the final pit sequence got under way a few laps prior.
Reddick, well he wasn’t stopping again. They were going to try and stretch their fuel 70 laps. That’s 105 miles from his last stop until the end.
An unlikely feat right?
It wasn’t.
Bell, made it a race as he went from over 20 seconds arrears to eight seconds back with 10 laps-to-go. With four laps left, the deficit was down to three seconds. But, Reddick had just enough speed and more than enough Sunoco racing fuel to make it to the end as he earned his fifth victory of the season and eighth of his career on Saturday night.
It was Reddick’s second career win on the 1.5-mile track as he also won a Truck Series race there in 2016.
He heads to the playoffs with nine top five finishes in his last 10 starts on the season and four top three’s in his last five.
Bell, had to settle for a runner-up despite leading 154 of the 200 laps. It was his third top four finish in four tries on the track in NXS competition and ninth top four, eight of which being in the top three, in his last 11 starts on the season.
Bell’s JGR teammate Brandon Jones would finish third in his No. 19 Toyota for his third consecutive top seven finish on the year. It was his first top five though since June 29 (Chicagoland Speedway) which those are his only two top five finishes since going back-to-back in top fives to start the year off with.
Pole sitter Cole Custer finished fourth in his No. 00 Ford for his eighth top 10 finish in his last 10 starts and 18th top 10 of the season overall.
Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five in his No. 7 Chevrolet to earn his 10th straight top 10 finish on the year.
The series starts their playoffs next weekend in Richmond.
Rhino Pro Truck Outfitters 300 Results
- 2 Reddick
- 20 Bell
- 19 Jones
- 00 Custer
- 7 Allgaier
- 9 Gragson R
- 08 Gaulding -1
- 23 Nemechek R -1
- 18 Herbst -1
- 10 Sadler -1
- 98 Briscoe R -1
- 22 Cindric -1
- 1 Annett -1
- 39 Sieg -1
- 8 Truex -1
- 11 Haley R -1
- 86 Brown R -2
- 90 Labbe -2
- 36 Williams -2
- 07 Black Jr. -3
- 51 Clements -3
- 01 Leicht -3
- 4 McLeod -4
- 0 Smithley -4
- 5 Mills -5
- 61 Martins -6
- 52 Starr -6
- 99 Avila -7
- 15 Matthews -9
- 35 Gase OUT
- 78 Miller -14
- 93 McLaughlin OUT
- 74 Weatherman OUT
- 17 Nemechek OUT
- 66 Finchum OUT
- 13 Mullis OUT
- 89 Cassill OUT
- 38 Yeley OUT
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