Joey Logano Advances to Round of 12 with Atlanta Overtime Win
As the Playoffs turn. Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs-opening Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway had all the drama of a well-written soap opera. In the end, it was two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano who scored the win in an overtime finish, while the odds-on-favorite to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship suffered a costly day.
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Race Results
Logano, who has had putrid luck in recent trips to superspeedway events, was finally on the good side of one on Sunday.
"It's nice to finally capitalize on the laps led, being towards the front, having a teammate lined up behind me there. He scored a ton of points today, too, being up there," Logano said. "A good day for Team Penske all the way through. Cindric did, too. A really special day for Penske to be able to score some good points and set themselves up pretty good for the Round of 12."
The end of the race was a slugfest between Team Penske and Trackhouse Racing, as Logano utilized great teamwork with his teammate Ryan Blaney, while Suarez had his teammate Ross Chastain helping him charge on the final restart.
Ultimately, Logano and Team Penske prevailed as Chastain got disconnected from Suarez as he got sideways after a shove from Chase Elliott in Turn 3 and went into the wall on the final lap. As Suarez attempted to work his way to the lead without his teammate, another multi-car crash erupted in the middle of the pack, which was triggered by Chastain's slowing race car.
As 11 cars piled into the carnage, NASCAR pulled out the yellow flag, which froze the field and secured the race win for Logano.
Here is a video of the final lap of the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta:
Joey Logano WINS at Atlanta, but they're WRECKING BEHIND HIM! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/I1miHuN0AL
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 8, 2024
With the win, his second of the season, Logano will automatically advance to the Round of 12 in the Playoffs. This means Logano has already moved further through the 2024 edition of the Playoffs than he did a season ago when he was eliminated in the Round of 16. Logano was determined to not have the same fate this year.
"To be honest with you, when we got knocked out of the Playoffs last year, it hurt a lot," Logano said in his post-race press conference. "It stings the rest of the Playoffs every time you show up to the racetrack and you're not in it. It hurts. It's really frustrating. You just get mad. You just live mad for a little bit.
"That's just what's Playoffs are, right? That's what drives you, motivates you to be better 'cause you don't want the pain. You also want the thrill of the victory at the end. This is a good start, for sure."
While Logano hails from Middleton, Connecticut, Atlanta Motor Speedway is literally like a second home for Logano as his family owned a condo at the race track as Logano was working his way up the racing ladder.
And while the facility would never dream of doing it in the present day, Logano recalls being kicked out of Atlanta Motor Speedway in his younger years, including once when he was testing a NASCAR Cup Series car for Jack Roush at the age of 14. The track management didn't like that. Not one bit, but it was all part of Logano's journey to the top of the NASCAR ladder.
Walter Czarnecki, Team Penske's Vice Chairman dedicated the race win to the fallen Roy McCauley, a longtime Team Penske employee, who won the Daytona 500 as Ryan Newman's crew chief. McCauley passed away a few weeks ago.
"I want to dedicate this win and this race to the memory of a gentleman named Roy McCauley," Czarnecki stated. "Some of you may know Roy. Roy was with our organization for 20 years. Started as a race engineer. Was a crew chief for Ryan Newman, then became our assembly shop manager in 2010 and served in that role until about two weeks ago when he passed away. This one is for Roy McCauley on behalf of the whole team."
Suarez would have just enough of a run on the final lap to secure the runner-up spot at the time the field was frozen, meaning he came up just one position shy of a 2024 season sweep at Atlanta Motor Speedway. While it was a great points day for the Trackhouse Racing driver, Suarez was left disappointed by the near-miss.
"It was a good day. Every time you get second, it's that close, you feel like you were in position to win, and you didn't win, it doesn't matter if you got a good points day or not," Suarez explained. "I don't feel really good right now. But it's part of it."
Blaney, who was swept up in a crash with fellow Playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 205 after Chris Buescher lost control to start the melee, would take his battered and heavily taped-up race car ironically sponsored by Dent Wizard to a third-place finish. It was a great rally, and on a day where several Playoff contenders found trouble, Blaney, who is defending his NASCAR Cup Series championship from a season ago, definitely got the finish he needed.
"Yeah, honestly I can't believe we got back up where we did," Blaney said. "The 12 boys did a really good job fixing it. I'm surprised it didn't have more damage than what it did. From my seat, I got drilled in the left rear, the door I guess is where it hit me. The right rear got off the fence. I didn't know how damaged we were. I was kind of able to carve up through traffic, could kind of get through the middle pretty good.
"So yeah, really proud of the effort. Had a thought of going three-wide on the frontstretch. I'm like, Man, it's going to be tight, we already have a good day going, great points, all that stuff. Yeah, third, a really good day."
Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-five finishers in the race.
In all, five of the 16 Playoff contenders finished outside of the top-20 in Sunday's race. Denny Hamlin came home in 24th after starting last, and hanging near the rear of the field for the majority of the race. In the closing laps, Hamlin attempted to knife his way through the field, but was swept up in the final lap crash.
Harrison Burton, the surprse winner from Daytona International Speedway a few weeks ago, had a really good day overall, but was also involved heavily in the final lap crash, and finished 31st.
Truex, who spent numerous laps on pit road for repairs after the crash with Blaney, and eventually reitred from the event after completing 254 laps, finished a disappointing 35th.
Kyle Larson, and Chase Briscoe were the final two finishing Playoff contenders in 37th and 38th after their days ended in a Lap 56 crash. The wicked impact occurred after Larson's car suffered a problem while running inside the top-five, and he lost control and pounded the outside wall. As he skidded across the track, he collected Briscoe, who won at Darlington Raceway a week ago.
Larson who entered the race as the point leader, dropped to 10th in the Playoff standings, and now sits just 15 points above the cutline. His advantage on the cutline coming into the day was 35 points. He no longer can afford any trouble or he faces a potential surprise first round exit from the Playoffs.
While Logano locked his spot in the Round of 12, Blaney rocketed to the NASCAR Cup Series point lead with his third-place finish. He holds a five-point advantage over Christopher Bell, and Blaney is now 45 points above Brad Keselowski, who is the first driver below the cutline.
The four drivers currently below the Playoffs cutline are: Keselowski (-1 point), Harrison Burton (-16 points), Martin Truex Jr. (-19 points), and Chase Briscoe (-21 points).
There are two races remaining in the Round of 16 of the Playoffs. Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen International. That race is scheduled for Sunday, September 15. USA Network will carry the television broadcast of the event beginning at 3 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have the radio call of the Go Bowling at the Glen.
TOBY CHRISTIE