Joey Logano has kept his even-year streak alive by punching his ticket back to the Championship 4.
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The two-time Cup Series champion achieved this by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He didn't have the dominant car, but he had the right strategy.
Christopher Bell finished second after leading a race-high 155 laps. Daniel Suarez, William Byron, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.
MORE: Logano wins, full results
The strategy came into play during the final stage of the race. Bell and Bowman were running 1-2 in the final stage when they decided to stop on pit road for fuel and tires with under 40 laps remaining in the race. Suarez, Logano, and Denny Hamlin gambled by staying out and conserving fuel.
The race went green the rest of the way. Bell had the fastest car by far, and he used it to erase a deficit of more than 20 seconds. However, he couldn't quite navigate through lapped traffic as he needed.
Bell passed Suarez and moved into second with two laps remaining. He pulled within a half-second of Logano on the final lap. He just ran out of time.
Bell was pressing, but @joeylogano held on! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/wBc6QnFaIM
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 20, 2024
This win is significant for Logano, who only reached the Round of 8 after NASCAR disqualified Bowman at the Charlotte Roval last weekend. He used his second chance to win the race and move to the Championship 4.
The last two times Logano won the opening race of the Round of 8 (2018, 2022), he went on to win the Cup Series title.
Notable: Logano has reached the Championship 4 every even-numbered year since the start of the elimination format. His finishes were fourth in 2014, second in 2016, first in 2018, third in 2020, and first in 2022.
Stage 1: Austin Dillon slammed into the outside wall late in stage 1 and brought out the caution. This sent the drivers down pit road for a late sprint to the end of the stage. Christopher Bell entered as the leader but fell to the back half of the top 10 after several other drivers used two-tire stops to gain position.
This strategy worked for some, but Tyler Reddick still won the stage after working through the field with four fresh tires. Bell, Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, and Kyle Larson were all in the top 10.
Denny Hamlin in 11th, Chase Elliott in 12th, and Ryan Blaney in 17th missed out on stage points.
Stage 2: Bell won stage 2. Truex, Byron, Buescher, Logano, Alex Bowman, Justin Haley, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Preece were all top 10.
Hamlin in 19th, Larson in 30th (extra pit stop), Blaney in 32nd (toe link repair), Elliott in 33rd (control arm repair), and Reddick in 35th (wreck) all missed out on playoff points.
Next: The Round of 8 continues for Cup Series teams on Sunday, Oct. 27. They will compete at Homestead-Miami Speedway, another intermediate track.
