Joey Logano started Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway from the 40th position. Logano actually turned in the fourth-fastest lap in the first round of qualifying on Saturday, but NASCAR disallowed his time after determining he failed to cross the start/finish line before the five-minute session clock ran out.

As teammate Brad Keselowski started at the back of the field due to a parts change on his car, Logano and Keselowski hooked up early and planned out their strategy. Eventually the duo elected to charge toward the front of the field after spending a few laps running at the back of the pack.

With Logano pushing, the Team Penske pair raced from 39th into the top 10 in just 16 laps, as Logano ran as high as second less than 30 laps into the race.

On lap 61, Logano’s race nearly came to an early end when he was swept up into an accident started when the No. 1 car of Jamie McMurray blew a tire. Logano spun through the infield grass, which caused minor damage to right front fender and splitter on the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford. The team made repairs on pit road, but Logano fell a lap down to the race leaders.

Logano drove in the pack for the next 40 laps before getting the wave around just past lap 100. Back on the lead lap, Logano began another charge toward the front of the field.

Racing three- and four-wide in the pack for much of the afternoon, Logano eventually worked his car back to the rear bumper of teammate Keselowski’s Ford Fusion.

Over the course of the race’s final few laps, Logano did all he could to help push Keselowski into the lead while making up as many positions as possible.

On the race’s final green-white-checkered flag finish, Logano pushed Keselowski out to the lead, then did his best to help his teammate keep the top spot. In the process, Logano lost a couple of positions while racing to the checkered flag, coming home in 11th place.

Capitalizing on his Chase Contender Round win at Kansas, Logano now advances to the Eliminator Round beginning next weekend in Martinsville Speedway.

The 24-year-old also emerged from Talladega still the Sprint Cup Series point leader, now four points ahead of Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman.

THAT WAS A CRAZY RACE FOR YOU WITH THE EARLY ACCIDENT, THE COMEBACK AND HELPING YOUR TEAMMATE TO THE WIN. DID THE RACE DEVELOP AS YOU EXPECTED?

“We accomplished what we wanted to do with getting Brad in the Chase. We just weren’t able to get the finish that I hoped we would get out of the whole thing. I really thought we had a shot to win, but it was important to push Brad to the win. We were able to push him to the lead, we just lost some spots those last few laps. Now, we move onto the next round and try and win the race at Martinsville and get ourselves locked in to the Championship race at Homestead.”