Logano declared his Phoenix win better than victory at the Daytona 500
Joey Logano has held his nerve to win Phoenix and join the Championship 4 for a chance to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup title.
Logano will join Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and defending champion Kyle Busch as the only drivers in with a shot of taking the championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Logano took the race after two ‘Green-White-Chequered’ overtime finishes.
The win was his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season and 17th of his career.
The Penske Ford driver had been battling with Kyle Busch for fourth place when the caution came out with three laps to run when Michael McDowell slammed the wall when he had a tyre let go.
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Matt Kenseth was the race leader at the time and appeared set to make the four drivers in the championship fight. However, upon the first overtime re-start he was sent into the fence after contact with Alex Bowman.
Bowman, who was substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr., had starred in the race leading a total of 194 of the contested 324 laps. He had the freshest tyres, but spun the wheels on the re-start and had Kyle Busch pressing from behind when he made contact with Kenseth.
That left Logano in the lead for the final re-start which he held through to the finish from Kyle Busch.
“I’ve never felt this good about a win before,” said Logano.
“There was so much on the line and everyone brings their A-game when it comes to winning championships and this team did it.
“I had a good restart there at the end and holding off Kyle to try to get this thing into Miami. We’re racing for a championship now. We did exactly what we had to do. We’ve got to go to Homestead and do the same thing.
“I feel like I just won the Daytona 500 again.”
The drivers eliminated from the Chase after Phoenix were Denny Hamlin, Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.
Next week’s season finale will feature two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas in Edwards and Kyle Busch, one Hendrick Chevrolet for Jimmie Johnson and the Team Penske Ford of Logano.
The equation is simple next week, whichever of the four drivers finishes the highest will take the title.
VIDEO: Race recap
RESULTS: Can-Am 500 – Phoenix International Raceway
POS.
CAR #
DRIVER
MAKE
START
LAPS
LAPS LED
FINAL STATUS
POINTS
BONUS POINTS
1
22
Joey Logano
Ford
4
324
58
Running
44
4
2
18
Kyle Busch
Toyota
19
324
0
Running
39
0
3
42
Kyle Larson
Chevolet
2
324
0
Running
38
0
4
4
Kevin Harvick
Chevolet
6
324
0
Running
37
0
5
41
Kurt Busch
Chevolet
12
324
0
Running
36
0
6
88
Alex Bowman
Chevolet
1
324
194
Running
0
0
7
11
Denny Hamlin
Toyota
5
324
4
Running
35
1
8
21
Ryan Blaney
Ford
8
324
0
Running
33
0
9
24
Chase Elliott
Chevolet
3
324
0
Running
32
0
10
27
Paul Menard
Chevolet
20
324
0
Running
31
0
11
1
Jamie McMurray
Chevolet
9
324
0
Running
30
0
12
31
Ryan Newman
Chevolet
15
324
0
Running
29
0
13
5
Kasey Kahne
Chevolet
13
324
0
Running
28
0
14
2
Brad Keselowski
Ford
14
324
0
Running
27
0
15
14
Tony Stewart
Chevolet
25
324
0
Running
26
0
16
16
Greg Biffle
Ford
24
324
0
Running
25
0
17
47
AJ Allmendinger
Chevolet
18
324
0
Running
24
0
18
13
Casey Mears
Chevolet
22
324
0
Running
23
0
19
19
Carl Edwards
Toyota
11
324
0
Running
22
0
20
38
Landon Cassill
Ford
28
324
0
Running
21
0
21
20
Matt Kenseth
Toyota
10
324
55
Running
21
1
22
43
Aric Almirola
Ford
27
322
0
Running
19
0
23
17
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Ford
21
322
0
Running
18
0
24
15
Clint Bowyer
Chevolet
34
322
0
Running
17
0
25
83
Matt DiBenedetto
Toyota
32
322
0
Running
16
0
26
46
Michael Annett
Chevolet
36
321
0
Running
15
0
27
7
Regan Smith
Chevolet
29
321
0
Running
14
0
28
6
Trevor Bayne
Ford
23
321
0
Running
13
0
29
10
Danica Patrick
Chevolet
16
320
0
Running
12
0
30
44
Brian Scott
Ford
33
319
0
Running
11
0
31
23
David Ragan
Toyota
31
319
0
Running
10
0
32
34
Chris Buescher
Ford
30
318
0
Running
9
0
33
32
Jeffrey Earnhardt
Ford
35
318
0
Running
8
0
34
95
Michael McDowell
Chevolet
26
318
0
Running
7
0
35
55
D.J. Kennington
Chevolet
39
316
0
Running
0
0
36
98
Reed Sorenson
Chevolet
38
315
0
Running
5
0
37
30
Gray Gaulding
Chevolet
37
296
0
Fuel Pump
4
0
38
48
Jimmie Johnson
Chevolet
17
296
13
Running
4
1
39
3
Austin Dillon
Chevolet
7
289
0
Running
2
0
40
78
Martin Truex Jr
Toyota
40
258
0
Accident
1
0
STANDINGS
POS
DRIVER
POINTS
BEHIND
STARTS
WINS
TOP 5
TOP 10
DNF
1
Joey Logano
5000
Leader
35
3
15
25
3
2
Jimmie Johnson
5000
Leader
35
4
10
15
4
3
Carl Edwards
5000
Leader
35
3
9
18
5
4
Kyle Busch
5000
Leader
35
4
17
24
5
5
Matt Kenseth
2296
–2704
35
2
8
18
4
6
Denny Hamlin
2288
–2712
35
3
12
21
4
7
Kurt Busch
2268
–2732
35
1
9
21
2
8
Martin Truex Jr
2266
–2734
35
4
8
17
3
9
Brad Keselowski
2261
–2739
35
4
16
22
2
10
Chase Elliott
2255
–2745
35
0
10
17
2
11
Kevin Harvick
2250
–2750
35
4
16
26
3
12
Kyle Larson
2247
–2753
35
1
9
14
2
13
Jamie McMurray
2195
–2805
35
0
1
11
2
14
Austin Dillon
2194
–2806
35
0
4
13
3
15
Tony Stewart
2192
–2808
27
1
5
8
4
16
Chris Buescher
2152
–2848
35
1
2
2
4
17
Kasey Kahne
894
–4106
35
0
3
13
1
18
Ryan Newman
879
–4121
35
0
2
10
2
19
AJ Allmendinger
797
–4203
35
0
2
8
4
20
Ryan Blaney
797
–4203
35
0
3
9
2
21
Ricky Stenhouse Jr
761
–4239
35
0
4
6
4
22
Trevor Bayne
741
–4259
35
0
2
5
2
23
Greg Biffle
667
–4333
35
0
1
3
7
24
Danica Patrick
667
–4333
35
0
0
0
3
25
Paul Menard
651
–4349
35
0
0
3
6
26
Aric Almirola
637
–4363
35
0
0
1
6
27
Clint Bowyer
610
–4390
35
0
0
3
2
28
Casey Mears
533
–4467
35
0
0
0
3
29
Landon Cassill
510
–4490
35
0
0
0
1
30
Michael McDowell
469
–4531
30
0
0
1
2
31
Dale Earnhardt Jr
461
–4539
18
0
5
6
4
32
Brian Scott
455
–4545
35
0
1
1
5
33
Regan Smith
449
–4551
34
0
1
2
5
34
David Ragan
443
–4557
35
0
0
0
5
35
Matt DiBenedetto
372
–4628
34
0
0
1
9
36
Michael Annett
315
–4685
34
0
0
0
4
37
Cole Whitt
276
–4724
26
0
0
0
5
38
Jeff Gordon
218
–4782
8
0
0
2
0
39
Reed Sorenson
189
–4811
27
0
0
0
4
40
Josh Wise
168
–4832
28
0
0
0
8
41
Jeffrey Earnhardt
149
–4851
21
0
0
0
2
42
Brian Vickers
86
–4914
5
0
0
1
1
43
Bobby Labonte
61
–4939
4
0
0
0
0
44
David Gilliland
46
–4954
2
0
0
0
0
45
Michael Waltrip
42
–4958
2
0
0
0
0
46
Boris Said
17
–4983
1
0
0
0
0
47
Patrick Carpentier
11
–4989
2
0
0
0
0
48
Gray Gaulding
6
–4994
2
0
0
0
2
49
Eddie MacDonald
5
–4995
1
0
0
0
0
50
Alex Kennedy
5
–4995
1
0
0
0
1
51
Robert Richardson
3
–4997
1
0
0
0
1
52
Alex Bowman
0
–5000
9
0
0
3
1
53
Ty Dillon
0
–5000
10
0
0
0
0
54
Dylan Lupton
0
–5000
3
0
0
0
0
55
Ryan Reed
0
–5000
1
0
0
0
0
56
Jeb Burton
0
–5000
2
0
0
0
0
57
Joey Gase
0
–5000
6
0
0
0
0
58
Ryan Ellis
0
–5000
4
0
0
0
0
59
Timmy Hill
0
–5000
1
0
0
0
0
60
D.J. Kennington
0
–5000
1
0
0
0
0
61
Justin Allgaier
0
–5000
1
0
0
0
1
62
Cody Ware
0
–5000
0
0
0
0
0
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