The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway did not disappoint and proved the adage true; it’s not over till it’s over. Or, in a NASCAR race, it’s not over until the checkered flag flies.
Joey Logano only led six laps of the South Point 400 Sunday afternoon, but they were the ones that mattered. It was his third regular-season win this year, his 35th Cup Series victory and it was also Team Penske’s 99th series win with Ford.
It was particularly meaningful as Logano only became eligible for the Round of 8 after the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, driven by Alex Bowman, was disqualified in the Round of 12 elimination race when his car did not meet minimum weight post-race. The disqualification advanced Logano, who was previously 4 points short of advancing to the Round of 8.
Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford – Winner
After the race, an ecstatic Logano, said, “Oh my gosh. It’s an incredible turn of events coming from what was at the end of last weekend and what it was like Sunday night after a couple hours after the race and to this Sunday. This sport is just incredible.
“Things change, but what a team I’ve got. I stood out there at the start-finish line and it takes a total effort. Obviously, the car had to be pretty good. It was solid, but when you think about what it takes to win a fuel mileage race, you’ve got to have a good engine. 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 racetrack and trying to get to the 99 in front and keep the 20 behind. Coleman, Paul, Joe, Nick Hensley, our gas man making sure it’s full. It takes everybody to do it, so we’re in the Championship 4 again.
“I’m so proud of this team. We just find a way and that’s what I’m most proud of. I said it as we entered this thing this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore.”
Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – Finished second
Christopher Bell won the pole starting position and led 155 of 267 laps but came up short, finishing second.
Bell was almost at a loss for words, saying, “I don’t know. I don’t know, and I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet. Just a bummer. Everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, the pit crew did an amazing job, Adam (Stevens, crew chief) called an amazing race. We did everything we needed to put the Rheem Camry into victory lane, and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Finished 11th
Larson described the race as “a messy, messy day. None of the first races in the rounds have been clean, at all, for us. But this was a long, hard-fought 11th-place finish. We just had a lot of unfortunate things happen with the debris that got stuck on our nose. He added, that the team was “able to overcome that and I thought we were going to be fine. We had a strong finish in the second stage, and then we had the issues on the pit stop and just had to fight from there.
“We got the most we could out of the rest of the day. I’m proud of this No. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevy team for the rebound and having a clean rest of the race.”
William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Finished: 4th
Byron was disappointed he wasn’t able to capture the win but was pleased with how he and the team progressed throughout the race.
“Yeah, we really improved a lot as the day progressed. That was a lot to be said about this No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevy team, and our ability to get the balance close and get the speed once we had the balance close. We just started the race a little bit off, but I’m really, really happy with how we came on. I thought we were going to have a shot to compete for a win there in the final stage, but it turned into a fuel mileage race.
“Just sucks. It’s going to take a win, I feel like, so we have to keep working for it and keep running up front. If we run up front, it will do two things – we’ll be able to compete for a win and score a lot of points. We just have to keep running like this.”
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – Finished 8th
Hamlin was frustrated with the finish but determined to make adjustments moving forward.
“Not a clean day,” he said. “That certainly sums it up. You’ll have that. We did the best we could to get the best finish. I thought Chris (Gabehart, crew chief) did a great job to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing the best he could to try to get it back through strategy, and then it goes long there, and we fall to the back. Just part of it.”
“I don’t know where we are at, but certainly, we are not running quite as strong as we were earlier in the year, and we are definitely not as clean, execution-wise, as we were. We will just have to clean it up and go to Homestead and try to win it.”
Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota – Finished 35th
Reddick had a strong start, leading nine laps and winning the first stage but was caught up in an accident with Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott during Stage 2 of the race.
“You just have to be aggressive on restarts,” he explained. “It’s how the Next Gen racing has been from the beginning. I kind of saw them both have a moment, and I just had to split-second make a decision. You have to be aggressive on the restart. It is hard to pass after a while. Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive – by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) started sliding and the 9 (Chase 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. It took us out of the race. We had a really, really fast Jordan Brand Toyota Camry, probably would have been in the mix all race long, but we will go to Homestead – a place where I have had to get it done before and go for it there.”
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford – Finished 32nd
Blaney’s weekend went from bad to worse. He began the weekend with a flat tire during Saturday’s practice session. Because of damage to his car after hitting the wall, he had to go to a backup car and start at the rear of the field for Sunday’s race. Things didn’t improve as he got caught up in an accident along with Reddick and Chase Elliott, finishing 32nd.
“We’re still alive,” Blaney said. “It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by the 6 there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the racetrack and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Finished: 33rd
After being involved in the wreck with Reddick and Blaney, Elliott is in last place (-53 points) in the Round of 8 and will need a win to advance to the Round of 4 and compete for the championship.
“The No. 45 (Tyler Reddick) was coming with a really big run on the top. I don’t think Martin (Truex Jr.) 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 need to sit down and take a look at it. I was, personally, just trying to get out of the situation and it was just a little too late at that point.
“It sucks,” Elliott said. “Our No. 9 NAPA Chevy was really, really good there at the start. It was the best we’ve been out here in this new car, so it was just a bad day for that.”
Next weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second race in the Round of 8.
