· Joey Logano scored his 22nd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in Sunday afternoon’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, securing his place in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

· Logano initially dropped to the 13th position in the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang. but by lap 30 had raced his way inside the top-five to the fourth position. Through the first run, the Pennzoil Mustang was described as free, but only slightly, featuring good balance all the way around the 1.5-mile speedway.

· As the green flag pit cycle started, crew chief Todd Gordon elected to run long, cycling Logano to the lead at lap 43, leading for seven laps before pitting. The team elected to make no changes to the car, sending Logano back to the track with four fresh tires to finish the stage. Logano was able to finish the first stage in the third position. The team elected to make an air pressure adjustment on the second stop of the race to give a little more drivability to the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang.

· Logano had a spirited battle with teammate Brad Keselowski at the beginning of the second stage to take the lead early on in the run. Logano was able to lead until lap 120 when the handling of the Pennzoil Mustang went extremely tight. The tight condition forced him to relinquish the lead just before pitting at lap 124. The team made an air pressure adjustment on the stop, looking to free the car up in clean air.

· Logano was able to grab the lead after the rest of the leaders pitted, maintaining the lead to the end of Stage 2, grabbing the No. 22 team’s first stage win of the 2019 season. Under caution, he reported that at the end of the run the splitter had gotten off the race track, but needed that to happen earlier in the run to help the turn of the Pennzoil Mustang.

· Through the opening laps of the third stage, Logano settled into the third position, trailing the two leaders, but remaining quiet on the radio feeling out the adjustments from the previous pit stop. Logano was finally able to work forward and re-take the lead on lap 210 as the field neared potentially the last pit stop of the afternoon.

· The Pennzoil Crew executed on the final pit stop, positioning Logano for a battle to the finish, which featured all green flag racing. In the closing laps, Logano would fend off last week’s winner and teammate Brad Keselowski to race to his 22nd career victory and secure a place in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

 

“Oh, there was no debate, I was going to tear up the landscaping here. The talk was last night we had a big PENNZOIL dinner, and the talk was I was going to do some donuts in the grass at the end of the race. At the end of the race, not during the race. So to be able to do that was super cool. Great photo op, but I’m all about the big smokey burn‑out, so I said, well, I’ve got to do the big smokey burn‑out first, and I also didn’t want to go through the grass and have the splitter dig in and completely destroy everything and go flipping ‑‑ I thought ‑‑ I just saw it going wrong in my mind. I said, I’ve got to do a cool burnout, which I thought was super cool, I don’t know if you guys saw it, but I got dizzy, and that was neat, and then I made a couple donuts in the grass. That was cool.”