Joey Logano somehow made a tank of fuel last 110 laps and survived a NASCAR record five overtime attempts to win his first Cup Series race of the season and finally claim a playoff berth after spending all season on the elimination cutline.
With most of the leaders on the ragged edge of making it to the checkered flag, the last thing the likes of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano wanted to see was overtime after overtime, with most of them anticipating only being able to last one green-white-checkered.
Then came subsequent crashes, most of them involving the front runner either being aggressive in trying to win the race or otherwise running out of fuel. Hamlin and Larson lasted two overtimes more than their crew chiefs anticipated but eventually had to pit.
Chastain, Gibbs and Busch were involved in crashes and through it all, Logano kept gaining lanes and saving his fuel.
Somehow.
On what turned out to be the penultimate restart, Logano ran Chase Briscoe up the track to save his track position before another crash, this one involving Josh Berry, reset the field again. This time Tyler Reddick on fresher tires and a fuller tank was there but just couldn’t find a way around.
Logano survived, amidst his worst-career season, and even had enough fumes in his tank to do a burnout.
Somehow.
“That’s a good question for Paul, but I know into 3, my fuel light came on and it stumbled across the line,” Logano said referencing crew chief Paul Wolfe. “That was definitely all of it.
But so proud of this Shell-Pennzoil Mustang team. It’s been a stressful few weeks trying to get into the playoffs, and being able to win here is huge for our season. Felt great to get that. Boy, it feels good.
I’m out of breath. We had it won off of 4 and then the caution came out, and I was like, oh, my God, but you can’t pit. You’ve kind of got to go for it. Boy, it was close. But we’ve got to give a lot of credit to Roush Yates, not only building horsepower but building fuel mileage. That’s what won today.”
On paper, Reddick should have ate Logano up but just didn’t have enough laps to set up a pass. He was crestfallen to say the least.
“No, all the good cars ran out of fuel, and we were in position to pass the 22,” Reddick said. “He hadn’t been good all day long, and I didn’t get the job done.”
How did Logano get the job done?
“Drive all over the racetrack apparently but I had to,” Logano said. “He had tires there, so just had to make different moves and go different places, and I’ll tell you what, I went into 3 and I saw that light, and I’m like, oh, no, I’m run out off of 4.
“It just stumbled and spit and sputtered across the line there. Somehow I had enough for a little bit of a burnout, but I’m going to need a push back.”
A push back to Victory Lane.
Zane Smith, amidst a dreadful rookie season actually beat Reddick to the line for a career best second, ahead of Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher in the top-five. Ryan Blaney finished sixth ahead of Bubba Wallace, with Larson driving back to seventh on a full tank, Daniel Hemric ninth and Noah Gragson in 10th.
Hamlin finished 12th having led 70 laps.
“We ran out under caution,” Hamlin said. “He (Chris Gabehart, crew chief) was monitoring fuel pressure. I let him know what the fuel pressure was. We were fine, just running out of gas and we did under caution. It was the right call. I was going down pitlane there out of gas. I’m surprised we lasted that many green-white-checkers honestly. Certainly, stinks being 15 seconds from a win at the end and then 10 seconds from a win, and then to finish 12th. It’s just part of it.”
The race featured a one hour 20 minute red flag for rain, which began with a lightning hold on Lap 136 and a subsequent brief thunderstorm that was quickly dried up once the overbearing Tennessee sun came back out.
Christopher Bell was leading at the time and won both stages alongside a race high 130 laps but crashed out once he pit for fuel, recognizing that his tank was not going to last to the finish. He spun in traffic as a result, spinning into the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier.
“I just put myself in a pretty bad spot going into turn one,” Bell said. “I got bottled up there and just lost my cool to make something happen and I put myself in a bad spot and spun out.”
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
- Zane Smith, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
- Ryan Preece, No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
- Chris Buescher, No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
- Noah Gragson, No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Justin Haley, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Corey Lajoie, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford
- Josh Berry, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
- Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
- Harrison Burton, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
- Corey Heim, No. 50 23XI Racing Toyota
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
- Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
- Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
- Michael McDowell, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Riley Herbst, No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford
- Chad Finchum, No. 66 Power Source Ford