Yahoo Autos Joey Logano's Las Vegas Gamble Pays Off with Spot in NASCAR Cup Championship 4
First Joey Logano was out of the playoffs, then he was back in due to Alex Bowman’s disqualification and now with a victory in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway he’s in the Championship Four.
It’s a story not even Hollywood would believe as Logano and his Team Penske crew completed the final 72 laps on one tank of fuel to defeat Christopher Bell, who had dominated the 267-lap race leading four times for 155 laps.
“When you think about what it takes to win a fuel mileage race, you’ve got to have a good engine,” a jubilant Logano said. “You’ve got to have good engineers calculating stuff. You’ve got to have good communication communicating what they see and being able to make sure that I only gave up the right amount of spots on the race track and trying to get to the 99 (Daniel Suarez) in front and keep the 20 (Bell) behind. Coleman (Pressley, spotter), Paul (Wolfe, crew chief), … Nick Hensley, our gasman making sure it’s full. It takes everybody to do it.
“I said it as we entered this thing this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore.”
Throughout the race on the 1.5-mile track it was clear that Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the car to beat. He started the weekend by securing the pole, finishing second in Stage 1 and then winning Stage 2. However, the tide turned for Bell in the final 40 laps.
With 37 laps remaining, Bell was leading when he pitted for four tires and fuel. When he returned to the track, he was ninth, more than 26 seconds behind leader Suarez with 30 laps remaining. However, Suarez and Logano were in fuel conservation mode and Bell wasn’t with his fresh tires. Within 10 laps, Bell had cut the deficit to Suarez to 15.063 seconds and was sixth. At the same time, Logano, in second, trailed Suarez by 2.105 seconds.
Logano began closing the gap on Suarez with 10 laps remaining, cutting the deficit to 1.278 seconds, while Bell had taken over fourth. He now trailed Suarez by 6.998 seconds. Then with six laps to go, Logano shot into the lead. Bell was third, 3.153 seconds behind Logano. Bell sailed past Suarez on the final lap but fell 0.662 second short of defeating Logano.
After the race, a dejected Bell said he had yet to come to terms with losing the race that would have given him a berth in the Championship Four.
“Just a bummer,” said Bell, who goes to Homestead 42 points above the cutline. “I think everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails. Pit crew did an amazing job. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) called a great race. We did everything we needed to put this … Camry in victory lane. Wasn’t meant to be today.”
The victory was Logano’s fourth at LVMS. The two-time Cup champion and winner of 35 Cup races is now making his sixth appearance in the Championship 4.
Larson Survives 'Messy Day' for 11th
Kyle Larson fought back from two laps down to finish 11th in the South Point 400 after damage from debris and a disastrous pit stop sent him to the rear of the field.
The damage to the left front of Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet occurred early in the race and was repaired during the second caution period that covered laps 82-87. When the race restarted on lap 88 Larson was 35th.
Larson had made it back to 24th when near disaster struck during a pit stop on lap 126. The jack was dropped on the right side before the right-rear wheel was tightened. The situation knocked the crew out of its rhythm and the stop took 27 seconds. However, after Larson left his pit, the team realized the left-rear tire hadn’t been changed. Larson had to pit again, and that left him two laps down in 30th, 166 laps into the event eventually won by Joey Logano.
Larson regained one lap via pit stops and then returned to the lead lap, getting the free pass when Ty Gibbs spun on lap 193. He restarted 22nd following that caution period and then once he moved into the top 20, he remained there the rest of the race.
“It was a messy, messy day,” Larson said. “None of the first races in the rounds have been clean, at all, for us. We just had a lot of unfortunate things happen with the debris that got stuck on our nose. We were able to overcome that. I thought we were going to be fine. Then we had issues on the pit stop and just had to fight from there.”
Elliott, Reddick, Blaney Take Hard Hits In Playoffs
A multi-car crash on lap 89 of Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway dealt a severe blow to Chase Elliott’s, Tyler Reddick’s and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney’s efforts to make it to the Championship Four in Phoenix.
Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. were racing for position exiting turn four when Reddick tried to squeeze between Elliott and the outside wall. The hole closed, sending Reddick into Elliott. The two then shot across the track and collected Brad Keselowski. Reddick slid through the frontstretch grass and when he hit the transition to the quarter-mile track his car rolled over once before stopping on its wheels. Reddick drove his 23XI Racing Toyota to pit road, but it was too damaged for him to continue in the race eventually won by Joey Logano.
NASCAR Playoff Standings
After first of three Round of 8 races. Playoff field will be cut to Championship 4 after races at Homestead-Miami on Oct. 27 and Martinsville on Nov. 3. The championship race is Nov. 10 at Phoenix.
Christopher Bell 4,086
Kyle Larson 4,079
William Byron 4,071
x-Joey Logano 4,061
Denny Hamlin 4,044
Tyler Reddick 4,041
Ryan Blaney 4,024
Chase Elliott 4,018
x-Clinched spot in Championship 4 with win in Round of 8 race at Las Vegas.
“You just have to be aggressive on restarts. It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning,” said Reddick, who finished 35th. “I kind of saw them both (Elliott and Truex) have a moment, and I just had a split second to make a decision. By the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Truex) started sliding and the 9 (Elliott) was coming up and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point with nowhere to really go.
“I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding, to be more conservative to avoid an incident. Just not who I am, but it is unfortunate.”
Elliott’s crew repaired his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet well enough to clear him of the damaged vehicle policy and then later took him to the garage for more mechanical repairs. He returned to the race on lap 133, 27 laps down. However, he left the race after 230 laps, settling for a 33rd-place finish.
“The 45 (Reddick) was coming with a really big run on the top,” Elliott said. “I don’t think Martin (Truex) knew that, and he was kind of running as if we were two-wide. Once I recognized that there wasn’t going to be enough room, I bailed and there was just nowhere to bail. It was too late. I was just trying to get out of the situation, and it was just a little too late at that point.”
Blaney’s backup Team Penske Ford suffered damage in the same accident when he got clipped by Keselowski and “bent everything all to hell.” He finished 32nd, eight laps off the pace.
“It was just a rough weekend overall,” said Blaney, who wrecked his primary car in practice on Saturday. “I don’t know what to do about it to be honest with you.”
Entering Homestead, Reddick, Blaney and Elliott find themselves in a must-win situation to reach the Championship Four. Reddick is 30 points below the cutline, while Blaney possesses a 47-point deficit and Elliott is 53 points below the cutline. The only other driver below the cutline is Denny Hamlin with a 27-point deficit. He finished eighth in Sunday’s race.
NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1. (10) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 267.
2. (1) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.
3. (23) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
4. (9) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
5. (3) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
6. (12) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
7. (7) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.
8. (4) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.
9. (26) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 267.
10. (22) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
11. (5) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 267.
12. (19) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
13. (20) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
14. (35) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 267.
15. (31) Harrison Burton, Ford, 267.
16. (14) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 267.
17. (16) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.
18. (21) Noah Gragson, Ford, 267.
19. (33) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 267.
20. (15) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
21. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, 267.
22. (32) Ryan Preece, Ford, 266.
23. (6) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 266.
24. (28) Josh Berry #, Ford, 266.
25. (27) Erik Jones, Toyota, 266.
26. (24) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 266.
27. (25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 266.
28. (29) Jimmie Johnson, Toyota, 265.
29. (34) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 265.
30. (8) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 264.
31. (30) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 263.
32. (37) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 259.
33. (18) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, Suspension, 230.
34. (11) Austin Cindric, Ford, DVP, 96.
35. (2) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, Accident, 89.
36. (17) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 89.
37. (13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 61.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 139.385 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 52 Mins, 24 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.662 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 10 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Bell (P) 1-36;R. Blaney (P) 37-40;C. Bell (P) 41-67;M. Truex Jr. 68-74;T. Reddick (P) 75-83;D. Hamlin (P) 84-87;T. Gibbs 88-110;C. Bell (P) 111-123;K. Larson (P) 124;D. Suarez 125-150;C. Bell (P) 151-229;W. Byron (P) 230;D. Suarez 231-261;J. Logano (P) 262-267.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Christopher Bell (P) 4 times for 155 laps; Daniel Suarez 2 times for 57 laps; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 23 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 9 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 7 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 6 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 1 time for 4 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 1 time for 4 laps; William Byron (P) 1 time for 1 lap; Kyle Larson (P) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 45,20,19,24,6,54,17,22,2,5
Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,19,24,17,22,48,7,99,23,41
