Joey Logano had no business leading the field on the fifth overtime restart on Sunday night at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
Logano ran outside the top 10 for the majority of the NASCAR Cup Series’ Ally 400. However, a gutsy call by crew chief Paul Wolfe altered the No. 22 Team Penske team’s season.
As overtime restarts piled on and leaders dropped out due to wrecks, Logano vaulted up the leaderboard.
With that, brought growing fuel concerns. Ultimately, the No. 22 team stuck to its guns and the two-time series champion held off charges from Tyler Reddick and rookie Zane Smith on the final restart to win the race a secure a spot in the playoffs.
Logano’s final tally was 110 — the amount of laps he ran on one tank of fuel at the 1.33-mile oval en route to victory.
The final lap wasn’t easy for Logano inside the cockpit as it may have seemed. The two-time Cup Series champion could feel his Ford Mustang was on its last gasp of fuel.
“(I) had to not only do the fuel mileage piece of it, but also you had Reddick with tires there at the end, and he was able to make some pretty big moves, and going down the backstretch it started stumbling,” Logano explained.
“I was like, ‘Oh, no.’ (I) was able to throw a nice block on him, but even off of (turn) four, it stumbled and stumbled, and then it kind of got like a quick little bit of gas, I guess, and it kind of gave me a little squirt and then started stumbling again across the line and just couldn’t get to the line quick enough,” Logano continued.
“If that start-finish line was into (turn) one, we don’t win the race; we finish third or fourth.
“Definitely as close as you can cut it for sure.”
Cutting it close could be considered an understatement.
On the penultimate overtime restart, Logano was told by Wolfe that his race car had three laps left of fuel. The caution came out again.
“Then we ran a lap and caution came out, and I’m like, ‘Well, geez, there was one, and I’ve got to pace and clean my tires off and then go again.’ I didn’t feel good about it; I can tell you that much,” Logano said.
“But you just, like I said, cross your fingers, say a prayer, and hope there’s just enough gas in it. But I’m telling you what: There wasn’t a drop to spare.
“I’ve never won a fuel mileage race before, something that close. That was a neat thing to do.”
Logano can breathe easy as he enters the final seven regular season races locked into the playoffs with another shot at a third championship with Team Penske.
Notably, all three Team Penske drivers are locked into the postseason with all three drivers (Austin Cindric at World Wide Technology Raceway, Ryan Blaney at Iowa Speedway) winning in three of the last five races.