08/17/26 02:02:00
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08/17 14:00 CDT Joey Logano and Team Penske are making a push for NASCAR points
as the Chase approaches
Joey Logano and Team Penske are making a push for NASCAR points as the Chase
approaches
By NATE RYAN
Associated Press
Joey Logano has three championships in the NASCAR Cup Series but none in the
Chase system that has returned this season.
The Team Penske driver is embracing the challenge of proving he can win a title
in the format that puts a greater emphasis on banking consistently strong
finishes.
"Do I have a little chip on my shoulder? That's a clear yes," Logano said with
a chuckle after his victory Saturday at Richmond Raceway. "So much so that our
team slogan is ?4 the haters.' That's where we're at. That's good extra
motivation."
With an impressive surge from 20th to ninth in the standings over the past six
races, Logano has flipped the narrative on the elimination playoffs that were
in place for 12 years.
From 2014-25, the waning races of NASCAR's regular season typically were a
scramble to make the championship field as a win earned a berth.
But that safety valve has disappeared in the Chase, which will rely entirely on
points to set the 16-driver field.
The top 16 in the provisional Chase have been unchanged for the past four
races, and the grid for the 10-race title run likely will remain the same at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.
Shane van Gisbergen holds the 16th and final spot by 50 points over Ryan
Preece, who dropped 21 points further below the Chase cutline with a 17th-place
finish at Richmond.
The next three drivers ranked outside the Chase --- Ross Chastain (12th at
Richmond), Brad Keselowski (26th) and Erik Jones (27th) --- also lost ground,
diluting the potential drama of a surprise qualifier.
"The number of guys that feel the pressure of making the Chase is probably
less," said Christopher Bell, who is among seven drivers who have clinched
Chase spots. "In years past, everybody on the outside still had an opportunity
to get in, and now it's kind of dwindled to a couple guys fighting for the
spots."
There's been more intrigue toward the top half of the standings ---
particularly the progress of the Team Penske trio.
As Logano continued his push up the points ladder, teammate Ryan Blaney moved
past Ty Gibbs into second in the standings at Richmond. Austin Cindric,
Penske's third driver, shored up his title eligibility with a career-best third
on a short track to move up a spot to 15th in the points.
Denny Hamlin has a 115-point lead on Blaney and likely will clinch the Chase's
top seed Sunday at New Hampshire, which will be followed by the Aug. 29
regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
The standings then will be reset for the Chase, which begins Sept. 6 at
Darlington Raceway with the championship leader ahead by 25 points. Second will
start 10 points ahead of third, and the remaining 14 spots will be separated by
five-point increments.
"Getting to second is top of mind because every point is going to matter,"
Blaney said.
There also is an emphasis on finishing the regular season in the top half of
the points standings.
Racing Insights, a NASCAR analytics firm, ran more than 25,000 computer
simulations of Chase outcomes, and the champion started in the top six 85% of
the time.
Logano, who made the Chase only once while racing under the system in his first
five Cup seasons from 2009-13, is 36 points from sixth-ranked Chase Elliott.
"We've been able to switch our goals from making the Chase to winning the
championship," said Logano, whose No. 22 Ford was ranked 17th before winning
two of the past four races. "It's quite the turnaround. I look at the last
month and a half, we've been capable of winning all of them."
Logano could be among several more drivers who lock into the championship
Sunday with a solid result at New Hampshire.
Crew chief Paul Wolfe credited Logano with buoying morale when the team notched
only two top-five finishes in the first half of the season.
"I'm proud of everyone sticking together," Logano said. "There are times you
see teams break, and it doesn't take much longer running the way we were until
something probably was going to break. We've been able to make quite the
recovery to have a legit shot at the championship."
Larson double duty
After finishing sixth at Richmond, Kyle Larson immediately flew to Iowa and
scored his fourth victory in the Knoxville Nationals, a prestigious sprint car
event. Larson qualified on the pole position last week by winning a preliminary
race at the renowned dirt track in Knoxville, Iowa.
He had expected to miss Saturday's main event because of the schedule conflict
with Richmond, but a rain delay at Knoxville Raceway allowed the two-time Cup
Series champion to arrive in time to lead all 50 laps. "It's extremely surreal
just to talk about the day and the range of emotions," Larson said.
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