Lady luck got Joey Logano into the NASCAR Championship 4, but it was hard work that won the title on Sunday.
Logano advanced to the playoffs Round of 8 when Alex Bowman’s car was disqualified at Charlotte for being overweight, then followed it up with a win at Las Vegas with a risky pit stop strategy that paid off as teammate Ryan Blaney helped him stretch his fuel to the finish line.
Logano and his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney split the first two stages in the final at Phoenix in what was a largely uneventful race, but things heated up between them late in the race.
Logano had stretched out to a solid lead after the last round of pit stops, but Blaney’s car was faster on the long run and he began to reel him as the laps counted down.
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Defending champion Blaney got by playoffs driver William Byron with 22 laps to go and began to close the 2.2-second gap on the No. 22 car of Logano.
Blaney got to his bumper a few times, but Logano was able to block his runs with info from his spotter and Blaney eventually ran out of moves as the pair caught up to traffic on the last lap and Logano held him off for the win.
“I’ve got the best team.” Logano said in his post-race interview on NBC. “I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team.”
“The race started in Vegas for us. The amount of work and effort that went into building this race car right here, the amount of time … I mean, I don’t think anyone works harder than us. We were up at six in the morning going over stuff, but the guys just want it bad and I’m glad we delivered.”
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Logano’s title is the third of his career and Team Penske’s third in a row, with Logano having won in 2022. Byron finished the race in third while playoffs driver Tyler Reddick came home in sixth as he struggled to keep up with his competitors in the third stage.