Logano stretches fuel to win in five overtimes

Joey Logano stretched his fuel strategy over a NASCAR Cup Series record of five overtimes to win at Nashville and clinch a playoffs place.

Logano inherited the lead after the third overtime when Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr were both forced to pit for fuel. He appeared to be in position to claim the win in the fourth overtime, but a caution came out just before Logano took the white flag.

Knowing if they pit he would lose, Logano and his crew chief Paul Wolfe decided to stay out and gamble for the victory.

After a strong restart by Logano, the fuel light came on in his #22 Ford during the final lap, but he was able to fend off a challenge from Tyler Reddick and edged Zane Smith by 0.068 seconds to claim his first win of the season and 33rd of his career.

“I’m out of breath,” Logano said. “We had it won off of [Turn] 4 [in the fourth overtime] and then the caution came out, and I was like, ‘oh, my God,’ but you can’t pit. You’ve kind of got to go for it. Boy, it was close.”

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

Asked about the relief of making the playoffs, Logano said: “So much pressure. Trying to make the playoffs is not easy these days with these Next-Gen cars and everyone is so equally matched. I made a lot of mistakes, even some tonight, and it’s nice to be able to overcome.”

With Logano’s win, all three Penske drivers have now qualified for the playoffs – with all three of their wins coming in the last five races, following Ryan Blaney’s triumph at Iowa and Austin Cindric’s at Gateway.

In an eventful Nashville contest, the race was red-flagged for nearly 80 minutes on lap 136 when lightning and rain was reported in the area.

Hamlin had appeared certain for victory after passing Ross Chastain with seven laps of the original 300 laps remaining, until Cindric spun to bring out a caution and send the race into the first of five overtimes. The Joe Gibbs Racing runner ended up 12th.

Reddick claimed third ahead of Ryan Preece in fourth and Chris Buescher in fifth.

NASCAR Cup Nashville – Race results