Joey Logano thought his 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title hopes were gone when he was eliminated from the playoffs immediately after last Sunday’s race in Charlotte. Seven days later, he guaranteed he will compete for his third championship.
Logano initially missed the playoff semi-finals after failing to win in the Round of 12, but was allowed into the Round of 8 when Alex Bowman was disqualified for failing post-race inspection. Even with new life breathed into his title pursuit, he did not seem like a favourite to advance into the Championship Round.
His pace at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday was solid but modest compared to pole-sitter Christopher Bell, who led 155 of 267 laps. However, he managed to stay out of trouble unlike his fellow playoff contenders.
On Lap 90, his Team Penske ally Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Tyler Reddick were collected in a dramatic crash that caused Reddick to do a flip through the frontstretch grass. Such an accident was bizarre for a 1.5-mile intermediate oval like Las Vegas, which had only seen one other NASCAR race blowover in its history (Randy LaJoie in the 1998 Xfinity Series).
Kyle Larson, who won the first Las Vegas race in the spring, was set back by an extremely poor pit stop on Lap 125 in which his rear tyre carrier felt the right-rear tyre was not fully secured. The pit crew was preparing to change the left side tyres when the carrier informed the team of the potential mistake, so they went back to address it. Amidst the chaos, they neglected to change the left-side tyres and sent Larson out anyway, forcing him to pit again and fell two laps down. He ultimately fought back to finish 11th.
As the final stage progressed, the race developed into one of attrition. Logano pitted 35 laps earlier than Bell, which left the former on older tyres and less fuel but kept him at the front for longer. Logano passed Daniel Suárez, who was on the same pit strategy, for the lead with six laps remaining but had to watch for the incoming Bell.
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Fortunately for Logano, he had built enough of an advantage that Bell was unable to close the distance in time.
“You have to go the right pace to make sure you get in front of the #99 (Suárez) but get to where the #20 (Bell) was going to catch me,” said Logano. “It was an incredible day. It takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. It’s not just the engine or the engineers or the driver or the spotter, it takes all of us together to do it. It’s a total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and being able to maximise it at the end.”
Logano thrives in even years
Similar to the San Francisco Giants of baseball in the early 2010s, Logano has developed a strange knack of excelling late in the season during even-numbered years. All six of his Championship Round appearances have come on such years since the playoff format’s introduction: the inaugural year in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and now 2024.
He finished last of the four Championship Round drivers in 2014 after placing 16th in the final race at Homestead, then came three spots short of winning the 2016 title with a fourth behind champion and race winner Jimmie Johnson. 2018, a season dominated by the so-called “Big Three” of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr. as they had combine do win 20 of 36 races, ended with Logano pulling off the upset by beating them for his maiden title.
The championship race moved to Phoenix in 2020, where Logano and his Penske team-mate Brad Keselowski were unable to catch Chase Elliott. Two years later, Logano exacted revenge on Elliott in a dominant performance as he led 187 of 312 laps from the pole to secure another Bill France Cup.
Although he has three wins so far in 2024, this season is an outlier compared to his previous five title campaigns. He only has six top-five finishes so far, his fewest as a Penske driver, and he will not be able to record double-digit top fives as there are only three races to go.
Even if he scores top-ten runs in each of the remaining events, Logano would only have 14 top tens, also his worst with Penske. His abnormally lacklustre performance meant he would have missed the playoffs had he not won at Nashville in the regular season, having been 17th in points.
Despite the unimpressive season, simply having a shot at the championship means Logano can end it on the highest note possible.
“Coleman (Pressley, spotter), Paul (Wolfe, crew chief), Joe (Dilley, tyre changer), Nick Hensley our gas man making sure it’s full, it takes everybody to do it so we’re in the Championship Four again,” Logano continued. “I’m so proud of this team. We just find a way and that’s what I’m most proud of. I said as we entered this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore.”
