LAS VEGAS (AP) Tyler Reddick stretched his final tank of fuel Saturday to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and wrap up the regular-season championship.
Christopher Bell had the most dominant car but Reddick’s Richard Childress Racing team gambled on fuel strategy to beat Bell for the win. The reigning series champion has five wins this season.
Reddick had to save as much gas as possible over the final stretch and the conservation mode allowed Bell to close the gap. Bell and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were likely hoping Reddick ran out of gas, but he picked up his pace over the final four laps as Bell closed in.
Reddick made it 70 laps on his final tank of gas.
”It was stumbling,” he said of the final few moments of the race.
The race was the final event before the playoffs begin for NASCAR’s second-tier series, but the 12-driver championship field had essentially been set on points prior to the green flag. Reddick needed just 11 points to claim the regular-season title, with Bell the only driver mathematically eligible to catch him.
Brandon Jones was third, followed by Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson and Gray Gaulding.
The Xfinity Series eight-race postseason begins next week at Richmond Raceway in Virginia.
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