With teammate Brad Keselowski’s day done early due to a blown engine, Joey Logano roared back to carry the torch for Team Penske, winning Sunday’s Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Logano earned the 16th win of his career and second of 2016. It also was Logano’s second straight Chase win at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, having won there last October.
The race, which went four laps into overtime, four more than the scheduled 188, was the elimination race of the Round of 12.
Drivers who were eliminated from the Round of 8 in the Chase that begins next week at Martinsville Speedway are Martin Truex Jr. (engine blew up on Lap 41) and Brad Keselowski (engine failure, Lap 144), while Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott fell short on points.
“It’s definitely disappointing, but what else can you say,” Truex told NBCSN. “We had a team capable of competing for the championship and unfortunately we’re not going to be able to show that.”
Moving on to the Round of 8 are Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards.
MORE: Race results of Hellmann’s 500 at Talladega
MORE: Chase for Sprint Cup points after Sunday’s race
After race winner Logano, Brian Scott finished second (his best career Sprint Cup showing), followed by Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Harvick, Aric Almirola, Dillon and AJ Allmendinger.
Surprisingly, there was no “Big One” in the race, although there were a few minor mishaps:
On Lap 114, Greg Biffle, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Casey Mears were involved in the first wreck of the race. Biffle and Earnhardt suffered minor damage to their cars and were able to return to the track, but damage was heavier on Mears’ car and he never returned to the race.
With six laps remaining in the race, Kasey Kahne spun in front of Jamie McMurray and Trevor Bayne, bringing out the caution.
Then, Alex Bowman, driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr., spun into the grass with two laps left in regulation, sending the event into overtime.
HOW LOGANO WON: When teammate Brad Keselowski went out with an engine failure, Logano moved to the front, took over the lead for good on Lap 148 and held on for the remaining 44 laps. Logano, who led a total of 45 laps, overcame an earlier issue when the jack became stuck underneath his car and he went one whole lap around the track with it attached before returning to pit road to have it detached.
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Denny Hamlin needed a finish of at least fifth place and did so by finishing third, tying Austin Dillon but advanced to the Round of 8 over Dillon because of a better overall round performance.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Martin Truex Jr. saw the best season of his career and his championship hopes go up in smoke when his engine expired on Lap 41, ending his chances to advance to the Round of 8 in the Chase … Brad Keselowski led a race-high 90 laps, but like Truex, saw his day and Chase advancement hopes come to an end due to an engine failure. It marked the second straight DNF in the Chase (he finished 38th last week at Kansas) for the first time in Keselowski’s career.
NOTABLE: It’s probably not much consolation, but this was the third consecutive restrictor plate race that Keselowski has led the most laps in … A Joe Gibbs Racing pre-race strategy call to have Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and defending series champion Kyle Busch drop to the back of the field protected all three as they advanced to the Round of 8. Kenseth finished 28th, Edwards 29th and Busch 30th.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We came here to win, we’re doing what we needed to do, but it didn’t play out. It’s a frustrating way to go out. I want to finish the season with the most wins and we have a great shot at that.” – Brad Keselowski on NBCSN after his day and Chase hopes ended early due to engine failure.
WHAT’S NEXT: The start of the Round of 8 begins on Sunday, Oct. 30, in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway (green flag 1 pm ET on NBCSN).
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Joey Logano, piloto del Ford Fusion número 22, logró la victoria en el óvalo de 2.6 millas de Talladega Superspeedway, válido por la tercera y última fecha de la segunda etapa de la Caza por la Copa, la Ronda de 12. El piloto de Penske, le ganó en el último reinicio en tiempo extra a Brian Scott para obtener su segunda victoria en la temporada y su 16ª en su carrera en la categoría.

Logano, que largó en la posición 16, en la primera parada en pits se llevo el gato y fue penalizado con un pare y siga (conocido también como ''stop-and-go''), no obstante no perdió la vuelta, pudo recuperar posiciones y liderar las últimas 45 vueltas de la carrera.

Scott logró su mejor resultado en la categoría en 49 presencias en Copa NASCAR con su segundo lugar y completando el 1-2 para la marca del óvalo azul, seguido de Denny Hamlin que ganó el tercer lugar por unas milesimas de segundo sobre Kurt Busch. Completaron los primeros 10 lugares: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon y A. J. Allmendinger.

Con la victoria, Logano avanza a la siguiente etapa de la Caza por la Copa, la Ronda de 8, junto con Jimmie Johnson y Harvick. Los cinco pilotos restantes que avanzan por puntos son Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards y Hamlin. Este último terminó empatado en puntos con Dillon, pero el piloto de Joe Gibbs le ganó en el desempate al tener mejores resultados en esta ronda (su tercer puesto en Talladega contra el sexto puesto de Dillon en Kansas). Junto a Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott y Brad Keselowski quedaron fuera de la lucha por el título.

Truex Jr. logró la ''pole position'' y fue competitivo, sin embargo, una falla del motor por la vuelta 42 lo dejó último en una parrilla de 40 coches. Mientras que Keselowski fue el piloto que más vueltas lideró (90 giros) y era uno de los máximos favoritos para ganar esta tarde, pero un recalentamiento del motor en la vuelta 145, mientras iba segundo, lo hizo abandonar.

La siguiente fecha es la carrera en Martinsville Speedway, que servirá de apertura de la Ronda de 8, en donde será de tres fechas: Martinsville, Texas y Phoenix. En esta ronda, los ocho pilotos van a tener 4000 puntos cada uno y se eliminará a los cuatro con menor puntaje al final de la ronda. De esta forma, los cuatro mejor clasificados definirán el título de la Copa NASCAR en Homestead-Miami Speedway.