Well, that changes things.

It was another wild weekend, with all of the playoff drivers basically tossed into an officially licensed cap, shaken violently, then tossed out to determine a new running order that'll eventually determine the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion.

It's not the first time best-laid plans have gone bust in Sin City.

NASCAR began its Round of 8 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and it wasn't dull, at least not from a big-picture standpoint.

Here are three takeaways from the South Point 400, where a two-time champ leaned heavily on fuel strategy to take home the trophy.

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1. Joey Logano makes the most of a NASCAR mulligan at Las Vegas

A week after getting a lifeline at the Charlotte Roval, Joey Logano has clinched his spot in the championship final with his Sunday victory at Vegas.

Sound familiar?

In his two previous championships, in 2018 and 2022, he won the opening race in the Round of 8. This time he did it by conserving fuel for the entirety of the final race stage.

Sunday's win came a week after Alex Bowman's DQ at Charlotte moved Logano from ninth to eighth in the standings. Sunday's win moves him into the final four at Phoenix, regardless of what happens next week at Homestead-Miami and the following week at Martinsville.

"Holy crap, what an incredible turn of events here in the last week," Logano said.

2. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick have bad days

In a rarity, nearly half of the remaining playoff field rolled craps at Vegas: Ryan Blaney was 32nd, Chase Elliott 33rd and Tyler Reddick 35th due to an accident that sent Reddick into a one-flip tumble.

Kyle Larson was looking like he might suffer a similar fate due to a pit miscue, but he rallied for an 11th-place finish. The other four playoff drivers finished in good shape: Christopher Bell was second though he dominated much of the day and was disappointed at missing a win and the automatic Phoenix berth.

In fact, he was downright flummoxed after leading 155 of 267 laps and losing due to Logano's ability to feather the throttle and conserve Sunoco.

"I don't know … and I don't think I've come to terms yet," said Bell, who led 155 of 267 laps. "Just a bummer. I think everyone on this team did everything perfect ... and unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be."

William Byron finished fourth and Denny Hamlin got a workmanlike eighth.

3. Updated NASCAR Playoffs standings

• 1. Joey Logano (advanced to final with win)

• 2. Christopher Bell (+42 over 5th place bubble)

• 3. Kyle Larson (+35)

• 4. William Byron (+27)

• 5. Denny Hamlin (-27)

• 6. Tyler Reddick (-30)

• 7. Ryan Blaney (-47)

• 8. Chase Elliott (-53)

That's quite a bulbous bubble between fourth and fifth. Of course, everything changes if/when one of those guys 5-through-8 wins one of the next two races. Logano was sitting a distant eighth before Vegas, so you see what a win from the bottom of the playoff standings can do.

That makes Byron's 27-point cushion seem rather thin.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR Las Vegas: 3 takeaways from playoff race, updated standings