February 23, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

Logano goes back-to-back in wild Pennzoil 400

LAS VEGAS—The No. 22 Team Penske crew gambled and won the Pennzoil 400 with Joey Logano at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Rather than follow the leader—Ryan Blaney—to the pits, crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to leave Logano on the track when Ross Chastain triggered the eighth caution with six laps remaining.

When the race returned to green, Logano held off William Byron and established a sizable lead coming to the white flag.

As chaos erupted behind him, Logano stayed the course for his second win in Sin City and the 24th victory of his NASCAR Cup career.

“There was a little confusion, but it worked out really well,” Logano said. “A lot of cars stayed out and that was key to that move. Winning the Pennzoil 400 with the Pennzoil car, this is huge. It means a lot to be able to do this two years in a row winning this race. 

“I’m proud of the effort everybody here behind me did today. They prepared a great car and executed the race perfectly and that’s what we wanted. We fought hard and tried to keep every spot we possibly could and then ultimately, oh man, being able to pull it into Victory Lane here.”

Wolfe elected to leave Logano on the track knowing the No. 22 Ford would perform better out front.

"It's really about the clean air," Wolfe said. "If you can get clean air, it's worth so much. The tires obviously were wearing some. Obviously that's why we saw a lot of guys pit, obviously, from the lead. It seemed like it was--the left side wear was more accelerated than what we've seen in the past, and I think that was making guys favor wanting tires.

"But really still the falloff, if you look at the start of our run to the end, it wasn't extreme, and we--in practice we were out there on older tires. When they have a chance to cool down, seemed to re‑fire and have decent speed. It's kind of what we had talked about.  If you can get to the front row and get that clean air, then it's worth the gamble."

Matt DiBenedetto tied his career best finish of second and his first top-five finish on an intermediate track.

“This one was an encouraging second-place finish for sure,” DiBenedetto said. “It’s so cool. It’s too dang surreal to be driving this thing in the first place, the legendary Motorcraft/Quick Lane No. 21. It’s so cool to have the support of them and Menard’s and Ford and this whole team. It took so many people and it’s so cool to be driving for the Wood Brothers. It took so many people to get me this thing and we’re close – the second race of the season and we’re already starting off with a second-place finish.” 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Ty Dillon rounded out the top 10.

Harvick was solid early in the first stage and led a race-high 92 laps but his car was set up for short runs. Chase Elliott was the class of the field in the debut of the Chevy Camaro. He showed the car’s muscle by leading 70 laps and winning the first two stages.

After Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were forced to start from the rear with unapproved adjustments, Martin Truex Jr. was the only Toyota that could compete with the Fords and the Chevys on Sunday. He finished second in Stage 1 on Lap 80 and third in Stage 2 on Lap 160. Truex was the first car off of pit road following second stage pit stops, but he was forced to re-pit and lined up 19th on Lap 167. Truex damaged his car on the restart then hit the wall in Turn 4. He finished 20th.

Elliott returned to the point on Lap 205. He relinquished the lead to pit on Lap 217 but had cycled back to seventh when his crew chief Alan Gustafson radioed the No. 9 car had a left rear tire going flat. The driver didn’t hear the communication and spun in Turn 1 to trigger the seventh caution on Lap 221. He dropped to 27th and would finish 26th, one lap down.

With all but three cars—Stenhouse, Ryan Preece and John Hunter Nemechek—pitting prior to Elliott’s accident, the field took a wave around to line up on the lead lap for the restart on lap 227. Before going to green, the engine expired on the No. 37 Chevy and Preece was forced to the garage. Logano restarted fourth and took the lead with Harvick in tow. Blaney passed Harvick and challenged Logano for the lead on Lap 253. Blaney passed the No. 22 on Lap 254 and had led eight laps when Chastain spun on the backstretch.

Chastain, who is filling in for the sidelined Ryan Newman, finished 10th in the first stage but ultimately finished 27th in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford.

“I spun out with a few laps to go and when you’re driving the (No.) 6 car, that’s unacceptable,” said Chastain. “I got eaten alive today and I’m going to learn from it and try not to let that happen again. A lot to learn. I just made to many mistakes. This (Cup) is a whole other level. You have a whole new appreciation when you couch race—and even watching from the back of the field. You think you’d make the right moves, but in the moment, today, I made too many wrong ones.”

Blaney pitted from the point while Logano stayed out with Byron for the final restart. Stenhouse pushed Logano to the lead as Byron was relying on help from DiBenedetto. The No. 21 Ford made contact with the No. 24 Chevy, resulting in a tire rub and Byron was shuffled back through the field. The No. 22 Ford took the white flag as Erik Jones and Blaney sandwiched Byron resulting in a multi-car wreck on the front stretch and Logano winning back-to-back in Las Vegas.

“I needed clean air, needed to get to the front,” Logano said. “If you have clean air, that's enough to overcome the tires. That's what we were able to do, get a good push from Ricky, and it kind of pushed me out a little bit, and then I saw ‑‑ well, I didn't see, T.J. (Majors, spotter) told me in the spotter's stand to protect the bottom, 24 was coming.  Made that block, that was key, and then Matt made a move on him to get to second.           

“Once they did that, I was able to separate myself from the pack to where they couldn't draft me as much down the straightaway, and then just be able to run a couple smooth laps until we got to the checkered flag.”

Despite finishing 11th, Blaney leads the NASCAR Cup Series standings by three points over Logano.