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.
Logano led only the final six laps on the Vegas 1.5-miler but was able to hold off the afternoon’s most dominant car, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by a slight 0.662s 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 he pitted 35 laps later than Logano and was not able to make up the nearly 30s advantage Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford held on track after Bell’s stop.
Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suaraez, 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.
JOEY LOGANO PASSES DANIEL SUAREZ!
WILL IT BE FOR THE WIN?! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/69UrcWLJU5
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 20, 2024
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 initially held that Playoff position, but his car was ruled illegal in post-race inspection and he was disqualified 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. Of note, 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.’’
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 (crew chief) 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.’’
Las Vegas certainly provided major implications for the eight Playoff drivers – three of them were eliminated from winning contention by Stage 2, two more struggled with pit stops thereafter, leaving Logano, Bell, Byron and eighth place finisher Denny Hamlin to lead the championship presence among the top 10. 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, which endured a challenging day on pit road before also using a similar fuel-save plan to Logano.
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His teammate, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr., was sixth, followed by 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 – falling off the lead lap at one point after also having a bad pit stop. He is now second in the points standings, 35 points above the cutoff line and his Hendrick teammate Byron holds that important fourth place, 27 points ahead of Hamlin.
Regular season champion and the race’s outside polesitter Tyler Reddick finished 35th, eliminated after a roll-over accident in tight racing on lap 90. The accident collected fellow Playoff driver, Chase Elliott along with 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 10 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 from even before the race’s green flag for Blaney, who suffered a flat tire in Saturday’s opening practice that put his primary No. 12 Team Penske Ford into the wall. He started his backup from last in the 37-car field Sunday and was steadily moving forward before being caught up in that multi-car accident with Reddick and Elliott. He finished 32nd. Elliott was 33rd.
Hamlin is fifth in the championship standings, 27 off Byron. Reddick is 30 points below the cutoff line, followed by Blaney (-47) and Elliott (-53).
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.