Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
LAS VEGAS — Joey Logano went from being out of the playoffs to competing for the NASCAR Cup Series title in three weeks at Phoenix Raceway.
Logano, who thought he was eradicated from the playoffs final week in Charlotte till studying a few hours after the race that Alex Bowman had failed to fulfill post-race weight necessities to get Logano into the semifinals, pounced within the championship race utilizing a fuel-mileage technique to take the win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Logano stated he and his spouse laughed about it in victory lane.
“Can you imagine {that a} week in the past presently… I got here out of our bed room and stated, ‘You’re not going to imagine this shit,’” Logano stated, recalling the dialog. “Here we’re every week later. I instructed her, ‘You will not imagine we gained this.'”
The Team Penske driver entered the spherical of 16 (NASCAR’s model of the semifinal) with the fewest factors, and whereas a minimum of one driver will likely be among the many remaining 4 based mostly on factors, successful a race earns a driver a playoff spot an automated supply. The 4 drivers who make it to the championship spherical compete (together with everybody else) within the season finale on November 10 at Phoenix Raceway, and the first-place finisher amongst these 4 wins the title.
“Maybe we did not have the perfect common season, however when the pay window opens within the playoffs, the 22 (groups) come,” stated two-time Cup champion Logano, who was fifteenth within the common season standings whereas the one other seven drivers within the spherical of 16 have been within the high seven.
Christopher Bell thought he can be that driver in victory lane as he led 155 laps and had the dominant automotive, however Logano ran the ultimate 69 inexperienced flag laps with out stopping for gasoline whereas a lot of the area opted for the pit stops. Logano was instructed it could be a brief lap and was capable of save sufficient after which overtake Daniel Suarez with six laps to go.
“(My crew chief) instructed me we’re one lap away,” Logano stated. “Saving a lap over the course of that many laps is not that tough.”
The opening race of the three rounds (Homestead and Martinsville stay) didn’t go properly for the eight drivers nonetheless eligible for the title as Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney have been concerned in an accident on lap 89 whereas Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have been was hampered by issues on pit highway.
Takeaways from Las Vegas:
Reddick rolls over, Elliott annoyed
Reddick, who gained the opening spherical, tried to make a transfer on the surface to get to 3 when Chase Elliott (heart) and Martin Truex Jr. ended up making contact, turning Reddick, who made a jumper within the grass trioval.
Reddick could not proceed after a transfer he wished to repeat, however felt he had sufficient room to make.
“Being aggressive, I really feel like you must be on these mile-and-a-half tracks, and it bit me right this moment,” Reddick stated. “(Truex’s) 19 was (Elliott’s) 9 and all of us ran out of room.
“That’s all.”
Elliott appeared to have blended emotions afterward.
“I definitely perceive, however there wasn’t plenty of room … within the nook,” Elliott stated. “At that time within the race, it was an enormous gamble for him to guess on me recognizing and Martin recognizing that he had an enormous run up the entrance.
“It was positively aggressive, however who am I to say we’re making an attempt to run for a championship.”
Elliott stated his automotive was maybe the perfect he is had in Las Vegas in years.
“Personally I used to be simply making an attempt to get out of the scenario and at that time it was a bit too late,” Elliott stated. “It sucks.”
Reddick’s automotive landed on all fours and he drove it to pit highway, however the automotive was wrecked suspension and brake smart.
“I noticed a bit little bit of grass, a bit little bit of sky,” Reddick stated of the launch.
Does Logano capitalize with some assist?
Ryan Blaney additionally bought caught up in Reddick’s wreck and fell a number of laps behind in following Logano within the closing laps.
Bell felt Blaney performed some protection on Logano – and that was superb with him.
“It’s honest recreation and props to (Blaney),” Bell stated. “(Logano’s) 22 successful was most likely dangerous for (Blaney’s) 12 as a result of they’re competing with one another for factors.
“Penske gained the race and had a automotive are available. They did properly.”
Blaney scoffed at the concept that he was serving to to cease Bell from capturing him.
“(Bell’s) 20 did not get to me till the final flip,” Blaney stated. “I do not know what the hell you’d suppose I’m blocking him for.
“I’m working excessive. I’m not going to take anybody’s air away. Maybe he ought to have gotten to the 22 sooner. He would have been capable of cross me fairly simply, however he was half a lap late.”
Larson, bother for Hamlin’s crew
Both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have been victims of gradual pit stops that value them a number of positions through the race, with Larson having to pit a second time and falling a lap in a single sequence.
Hamlin completed eighth and Larson completed eleventh.
“It’s simply not a clear day,” Hamlin stated. “That definitely sums it up. You’ll have it. We’ll simply do our greatest to get the perfect final result.”
Larson had an analogous view.
“We made probably the most of it,” Larson stated. “(It) might have been quite a bit worse.”
Larson a minimum of has the comfort of leaving the race 35 factors over the restrict whereas Hamlin is 27 factors behind.
“We’re not working as exhausting as we have been firstly of the 12 months,” Hamlin stated. “We are positively not as clear from an execution standpoint as we have been earlier than.
“We simply gotta clear it up, go to Homestead and attempt to win it.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He spent a long time masking motorsports, together with greater than 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
Get extra from the NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get info on video games, information and extra
