Ryan Reed clinched his position in the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff field Saturday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Reed had a solid run going to finish off the regular season when another competitor spun in front of him and collected his No. 16 Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford. Reed’s day was cut short with a 35th-place finish.
“I feel like we were getting it better and able to run the top-10 once we got the car a little better, but it just got cut short unfortunately,” said Reed. “The No. 2 was just spinning down the track and you are already committed at that point. It is unfortunate that we tore up our race car but hopefully we are okay to get in the playoffs and go to Richmond. It is a bummer. Hopefully everyone tuning in on their Xfinity stream is having a good time watching this race. It is a lot of fun out there. Hot, slick and sliding around. I am bummed we couldn’t finish it off. We will go on to Richmond and be stronger.”
Reed made it to the third and final round of qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to earn an 11th-place starting position. Reed cracked the top 10 early on in stage one before a tight handling condition took over and cost him a few positions. At the conclusion of stage one Reed was 13th.
A fast pit stop at the stage break gained Reed four positions, lining him up ninth for the start of stage two. Unfortunately just a few short laps later the No. 2 spun on the track and the No. 16 had to nowhere to go. The contact was severe enough to end Reed’s day.
RFR PR/Photo Credit Chris Graythen/Getty Images
