Logano wins big in Vegas
Round of 8 victory lands former champ in title race
LAS VEGAS — Joey Logano became the first driver to qualify for NASCAR’s championship finale by using fresh tires to chase down Ross Chastain and win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We’re racing for a championship! Let’s go!” Logano screamed to the crowd. Logano is NASCAR’s 2018 champion and advanced to the title-deciding finale for the fifth time.
Logano used a late pit stop for new tires in a Team Penske attempt to give him a shot at the win. The new Goodyears helped him gain six immediate spots on a restart, but his Ford was still in eighth on the final restart with 16 laps remaining.
Chase Briscoe restarted as the leader ahead of Justin Haley and Chastain, and Chastain used a sweeping threewide pass on the bottom of the track to take the lead. Chastain had a decent gap on the field, but Logano was charging his way toward the front.
Chastain successfully held off Logano several times with blocks, but Logano ultimately pulled alongside Chastain on the frontstretch with three laps remaining to take the lead and earn his third win of the season.
“Joey did a good job of getting through the field there,” said Chastain, who finished second in a Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.
Kyle Busch, who was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, finished third in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Briscoe was fourth in a Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and was followed by Denny Hamlin, another playoff driver, in a Toyota from Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin had started 31st, the lowest of the playoff drivers, and salvaged his title hopes with the top-five finish.
The race was the first of three in this round of NASCAR’s playoffs. The eight remaining drivers will be whittled down to four for the winner-takeall finale at Phoenix next month.
With the stakes so high, the race was fraught with tension from the start and even included nearly a fight between Bubba Wallace and reigning NASCAR champion Kyle Larson.
The dustup between Wallace and Larson collected Christopher Bell.
Wallace had led 29 laps and clearly had a fast car in the opening race of the third round of the playoffs. Wallace didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and Larson was eliminated last week.
The incident began when Larson attempted a three-wide pass — Kevin Harvick in the middle dropped out of the bunch — and Larson slid up the track against Wallace. When Wallace didn’t lift to give Larson any room, Larson used his Chevrolet to shove Wallace’s Toyota into the wall.
Wallace then bounced back down the track, followed Larson’s car down to the apron and appeared to deliberately hook him in retaliation. That sent Larson spinning into the path of Bell, who won last Sunday at Charlotte to earn the automatic berth into the round of eight, and ended Bell’s race.
Wallace climbed from his car and marched his way toward Larson. Wallace was shouting before he even got to Larson and immediately began to shove the smaller driver. Larson tried to turn away from him and several times lifted his arms to block Wallace’s shoves, but Wallace got in multiple shots before a NASCAR safety worker separated the two.
Wallace claimed he didn’t deliberately wreck Larson, but both Larson and Bell viewed it as clear retaliation. NASCAR could penalize Wallace if it also believes he deliberately retaliated.
Asked what message he was trying to send to Larson when he began shoving him, Wallace said, “He knows ... He knows what he did was wrong.”
Larson, who hit the wall last week at Charlotte to contribute to his playoff elimination, said he wasn’t surprised Wallace hooked him.
“I made an aggressive move into (turn) three, got in low, loose and chased it up,” Larson said. “He got to my right front, and it got him tight and into the wall. I knew he was going to retaliate. He had a reason to be mad.”
Bell, who finished 34th and dropped to last in the eight-driver playoff standings, said “we got the short end of the stick” with Larson and Wallace tangling.
Joining Bell below the cut line for elimination was William Byron.
Briscoe and Ryan Blaney of Team Penske are sandwiched between Byron and Bell below the cutline.
Logano is locked in to the finale, while Chastain, Hamlin and regular-season champion Chase Elliott are above the cut line. Elliott finished 21st in an uninspiring showing in his Hendrick Motorsports entry.