NASCAR driver Kyle Busch qualifies Friday for today’s Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.LAS VEGAS – Seven months into the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are dead even atop the standings. Martin Truex Jr. is right behind them as he tries to repeat as series champion, and the other 13 drivers in the playoff field are desperate just to keep up.
Even after the occasional predictability of a regular season dominated by the Big Three, the stage is set for an intriguing playoff push. It all starts today in the heat of Las Vegas, where every event just seems bigger.
“You can feel the energy from the teams and the drivers before this playoff, even more so than you have in years past,” said Kurt Busch, a Las Vegas native. “There’s so much energy and so much attention with it being in Vegas for the first time. It just makes everything more exciting.”
The Cup Series’ 10-race playoff stretch is kicking off for the first time at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which also got a second race for the first time this season after years of strong public support for NASCAR. While the temperatures – forecasted to be in the high 90s – on the slick track will bear constant monitoring, most drivers aren’t as worried about the heat as the stakes when this season hits the home stretch.
The playoffs add another element to the season-long rivalry among Busch, Harvick and Truex. Those three drivers’ joint dominance – they’ve combined for 17 victories and 51 top-five finishes while leading more than 42 percent of the laps over the entire season – has been this year’s overriding theme on the track.