Christopher Bell Dominates First Round of XFINITY Playoffs As Four are Eliminated

Christopher Bell made it as easy as he could in the first round of the XFINITY Series playoffs by earning the victory at Richmond to kick off the playoffs. As a good chunk of drivers entered Saturday's Bar Harbor 250 in a stressful situation, Bell entered with a peace of mind. That didn't stop him from putting on a clinic though as Bell led a race-high 110 laps en route to his seventh career XFINITY Series victory.

Cole Custer made a run for the win late but came up short finishing second for the third time of 2018. Justin Allgaier would finish the race in third while Ryan Preece and Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five.

The race within the race picked up as the laps wound down. Matt Tifft and Ross Chastain battled for every point possible while racing near each other. Three positions would need to be what Chastain needed to makeup but he'd fail to pass those three cars being three points outside. Chastain would join Ryan Truex, Brandon Jones, and Ryan Reed as eliminated drivers in the first round.

Results from Dover

  1. Christopher Bell
  2. Cole Custer
  3. Justin Allgaier
  4. Ryan Preece
  5. Spencer Gallagher
  6. Brandon Jones
  7. Daniel Hemric
  8. Austin Cindric
  9. John Hunter Nemechek
  10. Ryan Truex
  11. Elliott Sadler
  12. Michael Annett
  13. Ross Chastain
  14. Tyler Reddick
  15. Matt Tifft
  16. Ryan Reed
  17. Shane Lee
  18. Ryan Sieg
  19. Chase Briscoe
  20. Jeremy Clements
  21. Alex Labbe
  22. Brandon Brown
  23. Garrett Smithley
  24. David Starr
  25. Vinnie Miller
  26. Landon Cassill
  27. Timmy Hill
  28. Matt Mills
  29. Bayley Currey
  30. Joey Gase
  31. Josh Bilicki
  32. Spencer Boyd
  33. J.J. Yeley
  34. Chad Finchum
  35. Mike Harmon
  36. Carl Long
  37. B.J. McLeod
  38. Morgan Shepherd
  39. Jeff Green
  40. Stephen Leicht
The NASCAR XFINITY Series will have their final off-weekend of the 2018 season as the MENCS and NCWTS heads to Talladega. The series returns at Kansas Speedway in two weeks to kick off the second round of the playoffs. Christopher Bell, Justin Allgaier, Tyler Reddick, Elliott Sadler, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Cole Custer, and Matt Tifft move on to the second round. (Koelle,2018)

Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images/NASCAR Media

Comments