Rough Start to the Round of 8 for Three Playoff Contenders

In an instant, three NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contenders saw potential solid starts to their Round of 8 Playoff campaigns come to an end on Lap 90 of Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In an odd incident, which was triggered by contact between Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott, regular season champion and Sunday's Stage 1 winner Tyler Reddick went for a flip through the infield grass at Las Vegas.

While the flip destroyed the suspension underneath Reddick's No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Camry XSE, which forced him to retire from the race, Elliott and Ryan Blaney, who was slammed into by a spinning Brad Keselowski near the end of the melee, had severely hampered cars for the remainder of the event.

In the end, Blaney would finish the best of the three, but that was not much of a consolation prize as he came home 32nd. Elliott finished 33rd after pulling into the garage for good after completing 230 laps in the 267-lap event. And Reddick was officially credited with a 35th-place run.

The rough day on Sunday, coupled with a win by Joey Logano, who came into the race in the bottom four of the Playoff standings, has put all three drivers in dire straights heading into this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Reddick dropped to sixth in the Playoff standings, and he is now 30 points behind the cutline, Blaney is seventh 47 points back, and Elliott is the last man on the Playoffs totem pole at 53 markers behind the cutline.

Here is what each driver had to say following their disappointing days on Sunday at Las Vegas as well as their records at the two remaining tracks in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs -- Homestead and Martinsville.

Tyler Reddick

What a range of emotions it had to be for Reddick, who picked up the Stage 1 win, and looked to be building a very solid foundation for a successful run through the Round of 8 of the Playoffs. Then it all came undone.

Reddick said he was simply trying to make up some ground on the restart in Stage 2 as he poked his car three wide on the outside of Elliott's No. 9 car. Reddick said by the time he noticed something bad was about to happen, he was at the point of no return.

"I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to split-second make a decision," Reddick explained. "You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding and the 9 (Chase Elliott) was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go."

Reddick says had he been more conservative, it could have prevented his involvement in the crash, but he says he and his team prefer to always be aggressive, and now, they'll need to be for the next two weekends as it'll likely take a win to advance to the Championship 4.

Reddick's Homestead Career Stats

Reddick's Martinsville Career Stats

Ryan Blaney

It was a tough weekend all around for Ryan Blaney. The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion suffered a very hard crash in NASCAR Cup Series practice on Saturday, which sent him to a backup car for Sunday's race. In Sunday's race, the backup car was very fast as Blaney worked his way into the top-15, but then he was wiped out in the incident.

Blaney was collateral damage in the crash, as he was simply attempting to skirt his was past the skirmish, when Brad Keselowski's car came spinning back across the track, and he was unable to see the No. 6 car until it was too late.

"I couldn't even see Brad in my A-post. The A-post is so freaking big, I couldn't see him down where he was in the grass," Blaney explained. "And [Spotter] Timmy [Fedewa] said coming up, and I saw him last second. It was too late for me to get left, and I thought I could squeeze on the outside and just got clipped and bent both rear toe links. It was no good after that.

"So, long weekend. Just one of those crappy weekends, man. You just feel like you can't do nothing right, nothing is going your way, but hopefully we'll contend the next couple of weeks. That's all we can do. Try to win races."

It was a tough weekend for sure, but Blaney showed plenty of resolve through it all. While a must-win situation isn't ideal, Blaney did just that at Martinsville Speedway last year to advance to the Championship 4, where he won his first career NASCAR Cup Series championship. Perhaps he can rekindle that magic?

Blaney's Homestead Career Stats

Blaney's Martinsville Career Stats

Chase Elliott

Aside from Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott had the worst starting spot (18th) of any Playoff contender at Las Vegas, however, the Hendrick Motorsports driver didn't let that slow him down as he quickly marched inside of the top-10, and looked to have a decently fast No. 9 car prior to the melee on Lap 90. Elliott said he simply had nowhere to go when he saw Reddick stuff it three-wide.

"Yeah, I mean [Reddick] was coming with a really big run on top and I don't think Martin [Truex Jr.] knew that," Elliott stated. "And he was kind of running as if we were two-wide, and once I recognized there wasn't going to be enough room, I tried to bail, and there was just nowhere to bail. It was too late."

Elliott feels at the time of the race that it occurred, that Reddick's move may have been a little too aggressive, but he understands being aggressive while battling for a championship.

"I mean, there wasn't a lot of room there. I certainly understand, but there was not a lot of room at that point in the corner, and at that point in the race," Elliott explained. "That was a big gamble [by Reddick] for him to bank on me recognizing it and for Martin recognizing that he had a big run up top. I saw it, but there was probably no way that Martin could see it that late. It was aggressive for sure, but who am I to say, we're trying to race for a championship."

While Elliott knows he likely needs to win to move onto the Championship 4 after Las Vegas, Elliott said that was what he figured going into the Round of 8 so his plans haven't changed.

"Yeah, yeah, we definitely need to win, but honestly that was my mindset today too, so, nothing changes for me," Elliott said.

Elliott's Homestead Career Stats

Elliott's Martinsville Career Stats

Photo Credit: Brian Smith | TobyChristie.com