NASCAR’s wild regular season rolls over into playoffs

DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — If NASCAR’s playoff opener at Darlington Raceway was any indication, the postseason is going to be a wild one. Erik Jones became the first non-playoff driver to win NASCAR’s opening playoff race. Several top seeds expected to compete like Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were out of contention at the end. Elliott was the top playoff seed and hit the wall early. Harvick’s car caught fire and he went from ninth in points to 16th on the brink of elimination. Defending series champ Larson was several laps down before finishing 12th.