Kyle Larson: Playoff Advancement

Larson finished fifth the Xfinity 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Analysis:

The Hendrick Motorsports star needed a big performance to advance into next week's championship round at Phoenix. Larson would deliver Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. The veteran driver would start and race inside the Top 5 all afternoon in this short track battle. Larson would climb to as high as second-place by the end of stage 2 but he couldn't get a handle on the lead. He would hold off Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell in the closing laps and that would be good enough to secure a spot in the championship round at Phoenix by 7 points over Bell.