Start: 7th | Finish: 15th | Points: 1st (ADV)
Stage One: 17th | Stage Two: 3rd
Joey Logano raced his way to a 15th-place finish Sunday at Watkins Glen coming off last week’s win at Atlanta to advance to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Logano kept the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford in and around the top-10 for a majority of the opening stage before he was called to pit road with three laps to go in the first segment to gain track position heading into Stage 2 as he lined up fourth for the ensuing restart. As the field was coming to two to go in the stage with Logano running third and the leaders planning to pit before the stage end, the caution flag flew as the 22-team settled for a third-place finish in the second segment. The 22-team made the call to not pit during the stage caution in order to maintain track position as Logano battled to keep cars behind him on fresher tires. A caution on lap 47 prompted crew chief Paul Wolfe to bring Logano to pit road on the edge of their fuel window to make it to the end, setting Logano up to restart 25th with 41 laps to go. As the green flag pit cycle began with 30 to go, Logano worked his way to the lead with 22 laps remaining while working to hold off the Nos. 71 and 5 who were on similar strategies. Logano was brought to pit road with 12 to go for his final stop of the day and was on his out lap when the caution came out, allowing him to jump a group of cars that opted to pit under yellow. After lining up 16th for the following restart with seven to go, a pair of cautions set up a green-white-checkered finish as Logano fought his way to a 15th-place finish.
“Solid day for us overall. Obviously, we’re racing for playoff points coming off the win last week and we were in position to take Stage 2 before the caution forced us to settle for third. Our strategy at the end got us out front in clean air but we just weren’t able to work our way back through the field in those last few restarts.”
WHAT’S NEXT: The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the final race of the Round of 16 on Saturday, September 21. Coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
THE GLEN
