Joey Logano snags the first NASCAR Cup Series Final 4 spot by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday in the South Point 400.
LAS VEGAS — Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano made his Team Penske’s fuel strategy call work to perfection Sunday afternoon to claim victory in the South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and earn the first of four NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 berths.
Joey Logano Snags the First NASCAR Cup Series Final 4 Sport by Winning at Las Vegas
Logano led only the final six laps on the Vegas 1.5-miler by holding off the afternoon’s most dominant car, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by a slight 0.662-second in the final few laps.
Bell, on the other hand, led a race-best 155 of the race’s 267 laps and won Stage 2, but his pit stop 35 laps later than Logano and was not able to make up the nearly 30-second advantage Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford held on track after Bell’s stop.
Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, who also used the same strategy as Logano, finished third after leading 57 laps, followed by Playoff driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Hendrick’s Alex Bowman.
Change of Fate for Logano
It’s been quite the turn of fortune for Logano, who a week ago following a race at the Charlotte ROVAL thought he was eliminated from the Playoffs only to receive news from NASCAR hours after the checkered flag that he was reinstated. Bowman had initially held that Playoff position, but his car was ruled illegal in post-race inspection leading to his disqualification after the ROVAL race.
That meant Logano, not Bowman would advance to this Round of 8 which includes two more races – next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway and then Nov. 3 at Martinsville, Va. – to set the four-driver Championship field. Logano’s last Las Vegas Playoff race win in 2022 propelled him to the series championship.
“Man, we did some fuel mileage stuff, didn’t we? Holy crap,’’ said a smiling Logano, whose four career wins now at Las Vegas ties NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson for most all-time at the track.
“What an incredible turn of events here the last week. Very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’re going to the Championship 4 again. It’s real. Great fuel mileage, great calls by [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure she’s full, giving me the info to keep the lead that we needed to. We’re going racing again. What an incredible situation, man. I’m so blessed.
“Just incredible day. Like I said, it takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. Not just the engineers, spotter. It takes all of us to do it. Total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and be able to maximize it at the end.’’
Christopher Bell Not Happy about Second-Place
Bell was as disappointed as Logano was elated.
“I don’t know [how to come to terms with the race ending] and I don’t think I have come to terms yet’’ said Bell, who is now 0-for-13 in wins after starting a race from pole position.
“Just a bummer. I think everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, pit crew did an amazing job and [pit crew] Adam [Stevens] called a great race. Did everything we needed to, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be today.’’
“The points look pretty good, but you’re never safe in this deal,’’ Bell added. “We needed to win today and unfortunately, we didn’t. We’ll go on to the next one.’’
The South Point 400 Results
The race certainly provided major implications for the eight Playoff drivers – three were eliminated from winning contention by Stage 2. Afterward, two more struggled with pit stops leaving Logano, Bell, Byron, and eighth-place finisher Denny Hamlin to lead the championship presence among the top-ten. Bell’s afternoon was good enough to propel him into the championship points lead with a 42-point advantage on the cutoff line.
Hamlin’s eighth-place effort was impressive after a difficult day for his No. 11 Toyota team. He endured a challenging day on pit road before using a similar fuel-save plan to Logano.
His teammate JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. was sixth. Behind him were Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hamlin, Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek, and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski’s Chris Buescher.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished 11th. He fell off the lead lap at one point after having a bad pit stop. Larson is second in the points standings, 35 points above the cutoff line. His Hendrick teammate Byron holds that important fourth place, 27 points ahead of Hamlin.
The NASCAR Cup Series Point Standings
Regular season champion and outside polesitter Tyler Reddick finished 35th. He was eliminated after a roll-over accident in tight racing on lap 90. The accident collected fellow Playoff driver, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, and reigning series champion and Playoff driver Ryan Blaney.
“We can still have a good day at Homestead and be in the mix in Martinsville,’’ a frustrated Reddick said. “Ideally, yeah, it would have been nice to win today. It would be nice to win next week, and that is what we will focus on, but thankfully we got ten stage points in stage one, and it’s not like we are absolutely out of it on points, yet. We are going to have to be perfect here on out, probably.”
It was a rough weekend before the race’s green flag for Blaney. In Saturday’s opening practice, he suffered a flat tire putting his primary No. 12 Team Penske Ford into the wall. Starting his back-up from last in the 37-car field Sunday, he moved forward until he was in a multi-car accident. The incident included Reddick and Elliott. He finished 32nd. Elliott was 33rd.
Hamlin is fifth in the championship standings, 27 down from Byron. Reddick is 30 points below the cutoff line, followed by Blaney (-47) and Elliott (-53).
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to South Florida for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell is the defending race winner.