MOTORSPORTS MONDAY - Logano's Win Shakes up NASCAR Playoffs
It’s fitting we’re in the month of October as the NASCAR Playoffs roll on because Joey Logano is like a character from a “Halloween” movie. Every time you think you may have seen the last of him, just like Michael Myers up from the dead jumps Logano.
The Team Penske was seemingly out of this year’s title picture after last week’s Round of 12 finale at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval. That is until fate stepped in at the expense of Alex Bowman’s disqualification for his car being too light in post-race inspection.
The penalty kicked Bowman out of the Playoff grid and in came Logano with new life in search of a third Cup title.
And in his very first attempt at trying to resurrect an overall mediocre season with title aspirations ended, Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe team up for a fuel mileage special victory in Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It keeps a streak alive of Logano making the Championship 4 every even year since 2014, which included titles in 2018 and 2022.
"Oh my gosh," Logano said through a huge smile when he climbed from his car after winning on Sunday. "What an incredible turn of events here the last week. We had a fast Mustang ... Hey to my kids at home. I wish you were out here, but we're going to the Championship 4 again! I don't know what the deal is with the even-year thing…but maybe it's real."
Numerology aside, Logano being the beneficiary of Wolfe’s fuel strategy was absolutely real. The No. 22 Ford was able to have enough fuel to last over the final 72 laps with a few more drops available for a celebratory burnout. But Wolfe was quick to point out that all the strategy in the world is meaningless unless the man behind the wheel does his job.
“I mean, when it comes to pressure situations, he loves that,” Wolfe said. He’s obviously really good at it. There’s certain drivers that under pressure can’t perform. We’re all humans, right? We’re not robots. The mental aspect, the emotion side of it, it’s real. I’ve seen it play out.
“I don’t know, like I said, we’re all humans. He’s just able to get to another level. The greatest drivers can do that under pressure.”
For now, the pressure is off and 22 team can spend two weeks forward planning for Phoenix.
IT’S THE PITS
A pair of title contenders did not have the support needed on pit row leading to disappointing finishes for Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin.
Larson’s challenges started with a piece of aluminum wedged into the nose of his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But subsequent stops on pit road were not the best for the No. 5 team including a lap 125 excursion that resulted in a loose wheel among other chaos. Larson did a masterful job racing back from being laps down to finish 11th and did his best post-race to keep the team’s morale intact.
“They’ve won me a lot of races, so I think that’s what helped me stay calm,” Larson said of his crew. “I make a lot more mistakes than the rest of our team does. That allows me to be calm. It was a bit of a mess, but we will assess it, learn from it and it will never happen again, I know that.”
Denny Hamlin also didn’t have the best day on pit road with the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team making a pair of mistakes. When all was said and done Hamlin took the checkered flag eighth but fell 27 points below the cutline with two races left in the round.
“In the Round of 8, that’s not enough points,” crew chief Chris Gabehart said of the 29 collected on the day. “I mean, eighth with no stage points is not going to get it done, certainly considering, the setback we had for ourselves there late in the season with a huge penalty. So not the day we hoped for. You’ve just got to execute cleaner than that in the Round of 8. We’re just not executing on pit road.”
SURPRISE SURPRISE
Larson and Hamlin were just two of the Playoff drivers who had trouble at Las Vegas. Their days weren’t as bad as others remaining in the title hunt including Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, and Chase Elliott, all who finished 32nd or worse.
RELATED: Playoff Contender Tyler Reddick Flips on Las Vegas Frontstretch
It opened up opportunities for a few non-Playoff teams to put good finishes on the board and in fact six of those drivers found their way into the top-10.
Daniel Suarez and his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain were two from that list in a day that saw the No. 99 of Suarez lead 57 laps and finish third.
Alex Bowman did his best to put the Charlotte post-race heartbreak in the rear-view mirror and had a solid fifth place performance. Martin Truex Jr. had one of his better outings of late coming home sixth with John Hunter Nemechek and Chris Buescher posting ninth and tenth place performances respectively.
“We got track position, made some adjustments, woke the car up,” Nemechek said about a mid-race pit stop. “I felt like we were running top-15 there for a little bit, and we opted to save fuel on the strategy that we played and came home ninth. Obviously, we want more – but at the same time, very, very solid day for this 42 group, and something I feel like us and Legacy Motor Club needed.”
SHORT TRACK ROUND-UP
The CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car Series season finale at North Wilkesboro had its fair share of drama but at the end of the night it was Brendan Queen winning the 2024 title. Conner Jones took the checkered flag in the 125-lap main event with Queen’s fifth-place finish enough to claim the crown.
Kaden Honeycutt dominated the night’s Pro Late Model event to win the race and subsequently the championship. Justin Bonisgnore won both the weekend’s SMART Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races at the historic North Carolina short track.
Luke Fenhaus was victorious in Saturday’s Falloween 150 Super Late Model race at Wisconsin’s Dells Raceway Park. Rich Sommers was able to limp his battered race car home after an earlier accident to a 20thplace finish to claim the 2024 Alive for Five Series title.
Pete Pistone is a veteran motorsports and general sports reporter/journalist with nearly 30 years experience. During his career he has worked for media outlets such as WGN Radio, The Chicago Sun-Times, Chicagoland Television (CLTV), CBS Sports, Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM. Pistone has been with SiriusXM since 2008 and co-hosts “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) with Mike Bagley, which airs Monday through Friday at 7 am ET. He is also the host of “Fantasy Racing Preview,” a weekend show focusing on NASCAR gambling and fantasy racing, which is part of the channel’s NASCAR Cup Series pre-race programming. Additionally, Pistone is a member of the SiriusXM College Sports team as an on-air personality and contributor on Big Ten Radio (Ch. 372). He is one of the hosts of “Big Ten Today” and can also be heard on “Big Ten Whip Around,” a weekly hour-long program spotlighting a variety of sports around the conference. Pistone is also the host of several specials as well as providing a range of digital content for both the NASCAR and Big Ten channels. A Chicago native, Pistone resides in the northern suburbs of the city with his wife and daughter.