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.
Now the front-runners are eyeing each other warily. Nothing will be decided in Las Vegas, but a major mistake - particularly by Truex, whose playoff points cushion isn't as big as the other two in the Big Three - could change the championship chase.
"My favorite part about where we're at is that I feel we've been in championship form all year," said Harvick, who won at Las Vegas in March. "I don't feel like there is a switch we have to go flip. We've been in the middle of the headlines and noise and all the things that come with the success we've had this year. The moment is not going to surprise anybody on my team.
"It should be business as usual as you start this weekend, and the goal is to win. Win the race in Las Vegas, and go from there."
Erik Jones was the surprising winner of the pole position during Friday's qualifying, with the 22-year-old starting off his first playoff run by scorching the track. Because they can't control what happens at the top of the standings, Jones and the other playoff drivers outside the Big Three all realize their target should be the fourth spot heading into the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"I would say there's a few dark horses," Jones said after edging Joey Logano by a minuscule margin for the second pole of his Cup Series career. "I don't think I am the only one. I would say the Big Three are definitely the favorites to get to Homestead, but that last spot needs to be filled. We're all fighting for it."
Former champions including Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski made the playoffs, but even Keselowski - who's in fourth place in the standings - is largely shooting for that fourth spot at Homestead. Keselowski surprised the field with two straight wins to end the regular season, but he realizes how much still needs to be done.
"Winning certainly doesn't hurt, but I think you try to temper that with the knowledge that other than the playoff bonus points, it is more or less a confidence thing," Keselowski said. "It doesn't count for much for the 10 weeks ahead of us."