Joey Logano Wins at Las Vegas, Advances to Championship 4

Joey Logano celebrates a pivotal South Point 400 victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Fnish)

LAS VEGAS — Joey Logano had to feel like he won a pot of gold heading into Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

After being eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs following the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte, Logano was back in the Round of 8 field when Alex Bowman and his No. 48 team were disqualified for failing to meet post-race minimum weight requirement.

The two-time Cup champion made the most of his ticket into the Round of 8 by biding his time and making it count when it mattered.

Starting from the 10th position, Logano hovered inside the top 10 while polesitter Christopher Bell led 64 of the first 80 laps. Tyler Reddick, the regular season champion, captured the Stage 1 win with Bell placing second and Logano taking an eighth place result.

As Stage 2 was underway, chaos ensued coming off Turn 4 when Reddick flipped and crashed on the fronstretch along with Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott. Once the race resumed green flag action, Ty Gibbs led the way for 23 laps before Bell retook the lead for a 13 lap stint.

After Kyle Larson enjoyed a cup of coffee in the lead, Daniel Suárez took the top spot for 26 laps before Bell recaptured the lead on Lap 151 to take the Stage 2 win with Logano finishing fifth.

Track position proved pivotal in Stage 3 as passing for the lead was a mighty task for the lead contenders. With Bell leading the way, one of the emerging storylines was the battle for the “Lucky Dog” or free pass between Larson, who was multiple laps down at one point, and Gibbs, who looked competitive in Stage 1.

Larson and Gibbs battled as if the free pass was the lead and in many ways, it proved race impacting for both. With Larson pulling ahead of Gibbs, the latter spun off Turn 2 and into the backstretch on Lap 194, bringing out the final caution.

Joey Logano closes in on Daniel Suárez for the lead in the closing moments of the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

Returning to the lead lap, Larson slowly charged his way to 11th while Bell had the car to beat. A flurry of strategies ensued surrounding fuel mileage parlayed by Suárez and Logano and all-out, sheer pace with Bell.

Suárez, recently eliminated from the Playoffs, looked to play spoiler for the Round of 8 contenders before Logano, with some help from Ryan Blaney, pulled within car lengths in the final 10 laps.

On Lap 262, Logano made the winning move, passing Suárez and capturing his second win of the season by 0.662 seconds over Bell.

“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,” Logano said. “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.”

This was a team victory as far as Logano was concerned, extending his fuel mileage and having the pace to catch Suárez in the closing laps.

“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,” he added. “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.

“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.”

For a second consecutive year, Bell left Las Vegas lamenting over another bitter defeat after starting from the pole.

“I don’t know. I don’t know, and I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet,” Bell said. “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.”

Normally, a podium would be a decent outcome for Suárez and his Trackhouse Racing team. Then again, the two-time Cup race winner was left wondering the possibility about a potential third victory.

“It’s a little heartbreaking. We had a great No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevy,” Suárez said. “I think we could have won it. We just needed the bottom lane. A couple of cars right there, they were stuck on the bottom and I was in very dirty air.

“The No. 22 was a little faster than us right there at the end. I felt like if I had the bottom, Joey wasn’t going to be able to pass me, but you never know.”

Joey Logano lights it up at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after winning the South Point 400. (Photo: Justin Sheldon | The Podium Finish)

Despite capturing a pivotal victory and a Championship 4 spot, do not expect Logano to party like it is 1999, or 2024.

“I have no clue. We’re a bunch of old guys. We’re probably going home,” Logano quipped.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Tyler Reddick
2. Christopher Bell
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. William Byron
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Ty Gibbs
7. Chris Buescher
8. Joey Logano
9. Austin Cindric
10. Kyle Larson

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Christopher Bell
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. William Byron
4. Chris Buescher
5. Joey Logano
6. Alex Bowman
7. Justin Haley
8. Daniel Suárez
9. Bubba Wallace
10. Ryan Preece

South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Race Results