Logano improves Chase chances with win
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- There are game-changing and potentially season-changing races in NASCAR. Joey Logano managed to achieve both with Sunday's win in the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The victory allows Logano, who started from the pole, to climb from 16th to 13th in the Sprint Cup standings, leaving him just 17 points out of 10th place in the points race. Logano is now among four potential candidates with a chance to secure one of the two wild-card berths to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
"This is huge for our Chase hopes," Logano said. "We needed this to have a shot at getting in the Chase. We are close now, but we can't make any mistakes. This sure does help a lot."
With three races left before the 10-race playoffs begin, Logano would much rather qualify for the Chase with a guaranteed top-10 berth than worry about the uncertainty of claiming a wild-card berth.
"If we can close it out with two more top-10s, I think that'll be enough to get us in (as a top-10 Chase qualifier)," said Logano, who is now one of the two top candidates to make the Chase as a wild-card (along with Kasey Kahne).
It was Logano's first win for Penske Racing, which he joined this season, and his first Sprint Cup win since June 2012 at Pocono, 44 races ago. It was also Ford's 33rd victory in 89 Cup races at MIS, tops among manufacturers.
"To come out here in Michigan, in Ford's backyard, with RP (team owner Roger Penske), to get the pole, lead laps and win the race is awesome," Logano said. "As much as we've gone through this year, it's well deserved. I'm stoked right now."
Kevin Harvick finished second, followed by Kurt Busch, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer. Sixth through 10th were Marcos Ambrose, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle (who won the last two races at MIS) and Carl Edwards.
"We beat 'em all today," Harvick, who remains fourth in the standings, said of his fellow Chase contenders. "If we can just do that (in the next three races), we'll be fine."
After leading the race, Busch rallied from a dropped lug nut during a pit stop that left him 14th to finish third and go from 11th to ninth in the standings.
"I'm in that Chase mode where we have to get in," Busch said. "You can't celebrate with a third-place finish. You just have to feel confident you can go into next week and finish well again.
"We're 23 races in with three races to go to get in the Chase. It's an amazing place to be in. We just have to make sure that when the door closes or the music stops, we're in there."
As is often the case at MIS, fuel mileage was the name of the game. Mark Martin was leading the race but ran out of fuel with four laps to go. Logano assumed the lead at that point and never looked back.
Logano's teammate, defending Sprint Cup champion and Rochester Hills, Mich., native Brad Keselowski, looked like he was headed to his first career win at his home track as well as his first victory of the season. But projected to be three to four laps short on fuel, Keselowski was forced to give up the lead and pit for fuel and right side tires on the final caution period. Keselowski finished 12rh.
Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson had a terrible day. It started with having to change engines in his No. 48 Chevrolet, forcing Johnson to start the race from the back of the field. Things only got worse after Johnson was forced to pit three times in the first 45 laps and then saw his day end just 57 laps into the race when the engine in his car blew up.
It was the latest chapter in an encyclopedia of bad luck that Johnson has written through the years at MIS. While Johnson has 64 career Cup victories, MIS is one of only five Cup tracks where he hasn't won previously -- and now has to wait until next June for his next chance (or another failure).
Johnson not only finished 40th, he also took a big hit in the standings. He came into Sunday with a 75-point edge over second-place Bowyer, a margin that was cut to 41 points after the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. also saw his Chase hopes take a big hit, finishing 36th and dropped to seventh in the standings, just 16 points ahead of 10th place. Because Earnhardt still has not won a race this year, he could potentially miss the Chase if he has poor performances in the next three races.
NOTES: Two of Logano's three career Sprint Cup wins have come from the pole. ... Filling in for Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon finished 14th. Martin is expected to drive for Stewart, out indefinitely while recovering from a broken leg, at Bristol. . ... When MIS was repaved more than a year and a half ago, it was expected that speeds would pick up maybe 2 or 3 mph. But with Logano's qualifying speed of 204 mph (203.949 mph) and Greg Biffle hitting 222 mph in Saturday's practice, MIS has vaulted to the top of the list of the fastest racetracks on the Sprint Cup circuit, supplanting the two former fastest tracks, Atlanta and Texas.
