Joey Logano wins the first race in the Round of 8 and will race for his second title in a few short weeks.
- Joey Logano scored his third win of the season Sunday at Vegas and is the first driver to lock into the Championship 4.
- Logano is the 2018 Champion and now has 30 career wins in 504 Cup series starts.
- Chase Elliott finished a quiet 21st Sunday.
Month-in and month-out, as this NASCAR Cup Series season sputtered along, most serious NASCAR-watchers had former champion Chase Elliott at the top or close to it to win his second title, after 2020’s. He was running well and winning consistently and showing no real signs of weakness.
But after Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, they might want to reconsider their prediction.
Granted, one bad day – one awful day, actually – doesn’t necessarily mean the Hendrick Motorsports star isn’t still a serious challenger. But after Joey Logano’s performance in the South Point 400, maybe the Team Penske star should replace Elliott as the favorite.
NASCAR Cup Race Results (PDF)
NASCAR
Logano powered past fellow championship contender Ross Chastain in the final moments to win the 267-lap, 400-mile race on the 1.5-mile track. The South Point 400 was the first of the three races in the Round of 8 in the four-race elimination “tournament” that will determine a Series champion early next month.
The victory was Logano’s third this year, his third all-time at LVMS, and the 30th of his career. He started fifth, ran up front most of the day, finished second in both the first and second stages, and came from 13th to win during the final 22 laps. He led only twice for 32 laps, but that included the final two after passing Chastain exiting Turn 4. In addition to the three victories, Logano has finished 10 races in the top-five and 15 in the top-10.
On Sunday, he drove away to win by 0.812 seconds over Chastain, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, pole-starter Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, AJ Allmendinger, and Austin Dillon. Four in that group – Logano, Chastain, Briscoe, and Hamlin – are among the eight drivers still championship eligible with two more Playoff races before the season-finale at Phoenix.
None of the other four championship hopefuls fared especially well. Hendrick driver William Byron finished 13th, Elliott, a Hendrick teammate, was an uncompetitive and almost unnoticed in 21st, Team Penske’s winless Ryan Blaney ran exceptionally well until wrecking out late, and Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing was 34th.
Bell was innocently swept up into a Kyle Larson-Bubba Wallace crash that led Wallace to storm to Larson’s wrecked car and push him five times before officials interceded. It was, by any measure, the most memorable moment of the day and ramifications are almost certainly to follow.
Larson admitted he inadvertently nudged Wallace into the Turn 4 wall at lap 93. As Wallace bounced off, he hung a hard left and sent Larson spinning into the same wall. Neither driver was injured, but their cars were done. Various media outlets described Wallace’s move as an intentional act of immediate payback.
“It didn’t surprise me, Larson said, speaking of what looked like purposeful retaliation. “I made an aggressive move into three; got in low, got loose and chased it up a bit. 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, but his race wasn’t over until he retaliated. It was just aggression that turned into frustration, and he retaliated.”
The defending series champion was asked about the seriousness of Wallace’s reaction. “I think with everything that’s been going on here lately, with head injuries, fractured ligaments and all that, I don’t think it’s probably the right thing to do,” he said. “We’ve all done it – maybe not all of us – but I have. I’ve let the emotions get the best of me before. I know he’s probably still upset. I’m sure with everything going he’ll know he made a mistake in the retaliation. I’m sure he’ll think twice about that next time.”
Was Larson surprised by the physical retaliation at the accident scene? “No, I saw him walking over, so I figured he would do something,” he said. “Like I said, he had every right to be upset. I would rather him do that (shove) than tear up our cars in a dangerous manner. It is what it is.”
Wallace, of course, had a different view. “(They) are smart enough to know how easy these cars break,” he said. “When you get shoved in the fence deliberately like he did, trying to force me to lift – the steering was gone, and he just so happened to be there. He wanted to make it a three-wide dive bomb (but) never cleared me.
“He knows what he did was wrong. He wanted to question what I was doing, and he never cleared me. I lifted and it was too late at that point. Everything broke and we were wadded up. I hate it for our team. Our Camry was super solid; we just needed to find a little bit on the short run and get the balance where we needed it. It would have been like Kansas and now the car is junk. I know I’m kind of new to running up front, but I don’t lift. I wasn’t even in a spot to lift; he never lifted either and now we are junk. Piss poor move on his execution.”
From Bell’s close-up point of view: “The 23 (of Wallace) got run into the wall and obviously retaliated on his side. We got the short end of the stick… we got wiped out. It’s disappointing because our performance is capable of racing for the championship, and it doesn’t appear that we’re going to get to. Just disappointing. We’ll see if we can go pull another rabbit out of the hat.”
Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and Bubba Wallace, driver of the #45 McDonald’s Toyota, spin after an on-track incident during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jonathan BachmanGetty Images
Looking back, the original field of 16 championship hopefuls has been trimmed in half like this:
Former champions Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, along with Dillon and Reddick were eliminated after the Playoff-opening races at Darlington Raceway, Kansas Speedway, and Bristol Motor Speedway.
Former champion Larson, plus Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, and Alex Bowman were eliminated after the Round of 12 series at Texas Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, and the Roval last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The current Round of 8 series that began at Las Vegas will continue next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway before ending on Oct. 30 at Martinsville Speedway. The Championship 4 will race primarily among themselves – with the rest of the 32-car field also on the track – at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 6.
The highest finisher among them is the champion, regardless of his overall finish position.
Even with his bad Sunday, Elliott is still close in points. Logano leads with 4,084, Chastain has 4,063, Elliott has 4,062, and Hamlin has 4,051, the last driver above the Championship 4 cutline. Byron is six below the line, Briscoe is nine below, Blaney is 11 below, and Bell is 23 below the line. By winning this weekend, Logano advances automatically into the Championship 4 at Phoenix.
Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 16, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sean GardnerGetty Images
NASCAR Cup Series Race Results South Point 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunday, October 16, 2022
1. (5) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 267.
2. (11) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 267.
3. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 267.
4. (16) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 267.
5. (31) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.
6. (1) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 267.
7. (27) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
8. (22) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 267.
9. (21) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 267.
10. (10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
11. (17) Noah Gragson(i), Chevrolet, 267.
12. (13) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.
13. (3) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
14. (28) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.
15. (12) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
16. (6) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
17. (25) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
18. (23) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.
19. (15) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
20. (24) Cole Custer, Ford, 267.
21. (20) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.
22. (19) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 267.
23. (29) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
24. (30) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 267.
25. (35) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 267.
26. (8) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 266.
27. (34) Cody Ware, Ford, 264.
28. (4) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 260.
29. (2) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 259.
30. (36) BJ McLeod(i), Ford, 256.
31. (26) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 253.
32. (32) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 246.
33. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Suspension, 237.
34. (7) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, DVP, 94.
35. (14) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 94.
36. (9) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 94.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 130.48 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 4 Mins, 10 Secs. Margin of Victory: .817 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 42 laps.
Lead Changes: 18 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: T. Reddick 1;A. Cindric # 2;T. Reddick 3-33;A. Cindric # 34-40;R. Stenhouse Jr. 41;D. Suarez 42-56;B. Wallace 57-85;D. Suarez 86-96;R. Chastain (P) 97;D. Hamlin (P) 98-102;D. Suarez 103-107;R. Chastain (P) 108-128;R. Blaney (P) 129-167;J. Logano (P) 168-196;R. Chastain (P) 197-229;J. Haley 230-245;C. Briscoe (P) 246-251;R. Chastain (P) 252-264;J. Logano (P) 265-267.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Ross Chastain (P) 4 times for 68 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 1 time for 39 laps; Joey Logano (P) 2 times for 32 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 32 laps; Daniel Suarez 3 times for 31 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 29 laps; Justin Haley 1 time for 16 laps; Austin Cindric # 2 times for 8 laps; Chase Briscoe (P) 1 time for 6 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 1 time for 5 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 45,22,99,20,12,2,5,19,8,24
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,22,99,1,11,24,4,19,2,18
Keyword: Joey Logano Slides to Favorite Status in NASCAR’s Playoffs with Vegas Win