Joey Logano qualified the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford in the fourth position for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400. It marked Logano’s 13th top-five qualifying effort in the 2014 season.

At the green flag, Logano used the outside lane starting position to his advantage, jumping up to second at the end of the first lap. However, a condition that saw the Shell-Pennzoil Ford handle loose coming out of the corners hindered Logano’s early movement toward the front and he settled into fourth place.

Over the race’s first 70 laps, Logano ran in either the third or fourth position while figuring out the handling of the Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion. With a few tweaks, crew chief Todd Gordon began to dial the car in with air pressure and track bar adjustments.

Following the second round of pit stops, Logano found himself as far back as he was all day long in 10th place after several cars in front of him took two tires to four on the Shell-Pennzoil Ford. On the ensuing restart, Logano’s car got hit from behind and nearly turned sideways by another driver. Luckily, the damage to the No. 22 Ford was minimal and Logano was able to begin his charge to the front.

It took nearly 50 laps, but Logano was able to take the lead for the first time on lap 123. Once up front, Logano ran inside the top five for the remainder of the afternoon.

Each time Gordon brought Logano into the pits, he opted for four tires and fuel rather than just two tires to save track position. And each time, Logano was able to make his way back to the front and eventually reclaim the lead.

With just over 30 laps to go, Logano came to the pits for the final time, once again taking four tires and fuel. After restarting in fourth place, Logano was able to work his way back to the top spot less than 10 laps later.

Logano was able to lead the final 28 laps, holding off a charge from rookie Kyle Larson, en route to his fifth win of the 2014 season. It also marked his second win in this season’s Chase for the Sprint Cup and his eighth career victory.

With the win, Logano automatically qualified the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford team for the Eliminator Round in the Chase.

Logano led six times for a race-high 122 laps on the afternoon.

Logano also took the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points lead for the first time in his six-year career. He now leads the standings by six points over Kyle Busch.

With Sunday’s victory, Team Penske has now won three of the last four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and five of the last seven dating back to Logano’s win at Bristol.

YOU HAD A FAST CAR, YOU LED THE MOST LAPS ANDYOU WERE ABLE TO GET THE WIN. HOW DOES IT FEEL?

“What a crazy race. We had such a fast Shell-Pennzoil Ford again. It is so much fun to race these cars lately. Everyone at Team Penske has given me great stuff to work with. It is awesome to be back in Victory Lane again. I felt we had a good car all weekend but I wasn’t 100 percent sure but once that top (lane) opened up it just took off. There were a couple of cars that could run up there and it was me and the 42 (car) that were the fastest up there. The 88 (car) was early in the race but had an issue. We were able to capitalize and do what we needed to do. It was fun.”

IT LOOKED LIKE THE 42 CAR WAS CHASING YOU DOWN NEAR THE END. HOW TOUGH WAS IT TO HOLD HIM OFF?

“I took off tight and it was kind of a cat and mouse game. He was a little faster at certain points in the run and I was faster late in the run and toward the end he was hitting his stride. I had to take his air away. I was running that top and that was also the lane for him which is what held him up from getting to us. I worked the traffic perfectly and didn’t lose momentum to give up the lead.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE THAT PASS INTO THE ELIMINATOR ROUND THIS EARLY?

“It makes Talladega a lot easier, that is for sure. This is nice to get this win and get us through to the next round and not have to worry about Talladega coming up. This was important. To know we are on to the next round we can focus on a few more races coming up and we will keep trying to capitalize like we are doing.”

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR CHANCES GOING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR.

“I feel good about it. Obviously everyone at Team Penske and this 22 team in particular has been amazing. We’ve been working really hard, and (crew chief) Todd (Gordon) and I have been working together as best we can. We can’t win the championship today but we can definitely lose it. So we had to get two solid finishes with Kansas and Charlotte before Talladega, and this is as solid as it gets. We’re excited about our shot to win this championship this year. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”