Joey Logano qualified the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the fifth position for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway. It marked Logano’s 12th time this season qualifying fifth or better to start an event.

At the start of the race, Logano ran in fifth place before eventually moving up to fourth as he drove inside the top five for the first 50 laps of the event.

With a new tire compound this weekend, the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford began losing rear grip as the run wore on and Logano slipped back to eighth before the first caution flag of the night – a competition caution on lap 50.

After restarting ninth, Logano showed that his car was strong on the short runs. He raced back to fifth place before losing rear grip again and falling back to eighth in the running order.

On the next run, after some changes by crew chief Todd Gordon and the Shell-Pennzoil crew, Logano was more conservative with the tires and he was able to hold position just outside of the top five.

Over several long green-flag runs, Logano slowly got closer to his teammate and race leader Brad Keselowski, getting as high as third. However, Logano eventually slipped back to fifth place, a position he would hold for a majority of the remainder of the race.

Over the final 20 laps, Logano engaged in a great side-by-side battle with Kevin Harvick while racing for fifth place. Eventually, Harvick outlasted Logano, who settled for a sixth-place result.

With the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship beginning next weekend at Chicagoland Speedway, Logano enters the NASCAR “playoffs” as the fifth seed, just three points behind the top-seeded Keselowski.

Logano finished the regular season fourth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, a career-best for the 24-year-old driver.

TONIGHT WAS ALL ABOUT WINNING. YOU WEREN’T ABLE TO WIN, BUT YOU ARE IN THE CHASE. HOW DOES THAT FEEL?

“We are ready to go man. We had a mediocre night tonight. It was hard fought. We ran sixth, seventh and eighth all night long. We wore our tires out and had to drive easy the whole run just to have something at the end. We kept fighting with it, but it is over, and now we are going to Chicago and have a shot at a championship this year. I am excited about that. We’ve got something we can do something with. It should be fun. I am looking forward to see how this plays out and what the strategies will be for other cars and we will run it hard and see what happens with the Shell-Pennzoil Ford.”