Joey Logano has taken the win in Las Vegas for the NASCAR South Point 400, navigating chaos to secure his Championship 4 spot.
The Team Penske driver will advance to the championship race on November 6 at Phoenix Raceway, looking to repeat his 2018 title win.
This was Logano’s third victory of the season and his third victory around Las Vegas, which is tied for his most at a track in NASCAR’s premier series.
Bubba Wallace took the win of Stage 1 under a Caution flag caused by Kyle Busch as he spun into Turn 4.
Wallace was involved in an incident with Kyle Larson in Stage 2, being squeezed into the wall and hitting the Hendrick Motorsports driver in the right rear.
The 23XI driver retaliated out of the car by shoving Larson several times, both that were involved vehemently denied all allegations of dangerous driving.
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Ryan Blaney stole the Stage 2 win off the front-runners of Logano, Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain, leading 39 laps before losing control of his #12 Ford, crashing down at Turn 2 whilst running third on Lap 228.
Logano has a slow pit stop in Stage 3, pushing him down six spots and leaving him to battle in the last stages of the race.
But his fresher tyres were the reason for his dramatic pass for first position on Chastain with three laps to go of the South Point 400, taking his 30th win of his Cup career.
“All you want to do is get to the Championship 4 and the season starts and [you] race for a championship,” Logano told NBC Sports.
“We’ve got the team to do it. I don’t see why we can’t win at this point. Things are looking really good for us … A lot of adversity fought through the last 50 laps or so.
“I thought we were gonna win, then we kind of fell out and had the tyres.
“Racing Ross was fun; he was doing a good job air-blocking me. I was trying to be patient, and eventually I was like, ‘I gotta go here.’
“Just great to win out here in Vegas again, and it means so much getting to the championship.”
Chastain finished in second, followed by Busch, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, each picking up vital points for those still in contention to lock in one of the now three remaining spots in the championship battle race.
NASCAR will be racing next week in South Beach at the Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Dixie Vodka 400 on October 24 at 05:30 AEST/14:30 local time.
Highlights: NASCAR at Las Vegas
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