Start: 5th |  Finish: 14th  | Points: 8th

Stage One: 2nd  |  Stage Two: 27th 

Joey Logano came away with a 14th-place finish in the opening race of the Round of 12 Sunday at Kansas. With the result, Logano and the No. 22 team sit eighth in the playoffs standings, four points above the cut line. After starting fifth, Logano maintained top-five speed over the course of the first long, green flag run of the afternoon before the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang’s long run speed came to life in the closing laps of Stage 1. Logano closed in on the No. 24’s bumper with three to go in the stage, but ultimately settled for second in the opening segment. The 22 crew won the race off pit road during the stage caution, allowing Logano to control the restart from the inside of row one with teammate Ryan Blaney lined up behind him. He ultimately settled into second in the running order while battling some handling issues on the initial laps of the run. Three cautions in the final 20 laps of Stage 2 halted any sort of forward momentum as Logano was called to pit road following the yellow with nine laps left in the stage. However, Logano felt a loose wheel after making his way off pit road, forcing him to make an addition stop before the restart and taking the green from the tail end of the field, resulting in a 27th-place finish in Stage 2. Logano’s handling issues began to worsen during the final run of the day as the track conditions began to transition in the late afternoon, but he continued to maintain top-15 pace. The Shell-Pennzoil Ford made its way through two-and-three-wide battles during a pair of restarts with under 30 laps remaining before Logano ultimately took the checkered flag 14th.

“I don’t know. We went from a winning car to being wrecking loose like someone hit a light switch. I don’t know why or what, but we had something that we could win with early and then we were out of control loose and trying not to wreck. It beats me. I don’t understand it. At least we scored good stage points in the first stage but we got nothing the second stage, unfortunately. We battled back from that loose wheel and got back to 14th. We just have to go to Talladega and be solid again. It isn’t going to be a comfortable next two weeks, that’s for sure.”

WHAT’S NEXT: The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the second race of the Round of 12 on Sunday, October 6. Coverage of the Yellawood 500 begins at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.