Hard hits knock Harvick, Jones and Elliott out of first playoff race

To say the least, the first race in the first round of the NASCAR Playoffs were disastrous for some. A total of seven of the 16 drivers who qualified for the championship stretch run finished outside the top-20 in the final rundown of the South Point 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But of those to have bad days, three of them in particular suffered through their own personal versions of hard knocks as Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones and Chase Elliott were involved in hard crashes that ended their respective days prematurely. On…