Joey Logano couldn’t notch his fourth win at Las Vegas. (Photo: Myk Crawford | The Podium Finish)
Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano came to Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the series’ most recent winner at the 1.5-mile oval. Such fortune wasn’t granted to him during Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 as he was one of only two retirees out of the 36-car field due to a crash on Lap 183.
Despite Logano leading the field to green, his time up front only lasted for nine laps as William Byron took control and went on to win at LVMS. Meanwhile, Logano mired back in the top-15 for the majority of a rather clean 271-lap contest.
Leading up to his exit, Logano was in a three-wide battle for 14th. He went high, looking to get past both Fontana winner Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.
Entering Turn 4, the lane narrowed up as Keselowski blended into the path of Logano, making contact with the wall. Logano spun out of control in front of several cars and narrowly missed Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Logano’s No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang spun into the grass before coming to a stop. He brought it to pit road, hoping his afternoon could continue to salvage some championship points.
Unfortunately, the damaged vehicle policy clock expired and Logano was forced to call it a day. He finished in 36th. A rare last-place finish marked the third of his career and his first since Watkins Glen in 2018.
Knowing how well his No. 22 Penske squad runs at Las Vegas, Logano wasn’t satisfied with the overall race performance.
“Considering how we’ve been here in the past, you kind of expect it a little bit more performance today than what we had. Just off on overall speed,” said Logano. “We had the balance somewhat close – just not fast. We have to go back to the drawing board for when we come back here.”
Logano was blunt about what led to his first DNF in the last nine races.
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it. It is what it is,” Logano said about Keselowski. “What are you going to do, right? We got fenced.”
Sunday’s race saw 34 cars finish with Erik Jones being the only other driver unable to take the checkered flag due to a last-lap crash. In that incident, Keselowski, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Briscoe and Austin Dillon were also involved.
