Tyler Reddick took advantage of a late caution and fresh tires to rocket past six others in a two-lap sprint to the finish at Kansas, winning for the second time this season and assuring himself a spot in the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and the series htis the final leg of the Round of 16 in the playoffs this week for the Bristol night race.
The suddenly red-hot Chris Buescher won after starting 20th last year.
Reddick passed team co-owner Denny Hamlin for the lead and joined Kyle Larson as drivers with secured spots in the Round of 12. Hamlin finished second, followed by Erik Jones, Larson and defending series champion Joey Logano.
With one race remaining before the playoff field is cut down from 16, Kevin Harvick holds the 12th spot, with Martin Truex Jr., the regular-season champion, seven points below the cut line. Others below the line: Bubba Wallace (-19), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-22) and Michael McDowell (-40).
Practice and qualifying is at 3:30 pm Friday. Race time is 6:30 pm Saturday night.
On the XFinity cicruit, John Hunter Nemechek dominated, winning both early stages at Kansas and finishing with his series-best sixth victory of the year while Parker Kligerman claimed the last spot in the 12-driver playoffs when he finished fourth and Riley Herbst crashed early as XFinity runs Bristol Friday night.
Nemechek led 154 of the 200 laps. Brandon Jones finished second but needed a victory to make the postseason. Sheldon Creed finished third and Austin Hill was fifth.
Kligerman rallied after Herbst nudged him into the wall, putting him two laps down. Sammy Smith, already in the playoffs with an early season victory at Phoenix, crashed for the seventh race in a row. Another playoff driver, Cole Custer, crashed after hitting debris.
Practice and qualifying is today at 1:30 pm and race time is at 6:30 pm Friday night.
Christian Eckes took the lead on the final restart at Kansas to lead his only two laps of the race and gain a berth in the Round of 8 as the Craftsman Truck Series heads takes on the next leg in its playoff run.
Eckes prevailed in a three-wide fight for the lead against Corey Heim and Zane Smith. It was his third victory of the year and the fourth of his career. Taylor Gray finished second and Matt DiBenedetto was third but missed out on a playoff advancement by five points to 2021 series champion Ben Rhodes.
Also eliminated was three-time series champion Matt Crafton, who finished 33rd and missed advancing by 11 points.
Majeski won after starting sixth last year.
Practice and qualifying is at 3 pm today. Race time is 8 pm tonight.
