by HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — One of the first things Joey Logano said after winning the NASCAR playoff opener was that the playoffs were his time of year.
And, in 10 initial playoff appearances, he’s generally managed to navigate his way through the rounds, winning two Cup titles and never finishing lower than eighth in the standings.
Last year, reigning Cup champion Logano was knocked out of the 16-driver field on the first lap for the first time in his career and dreaded going on the track for the rest of the season, even though Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney won the championship.
There will be no missteps this year, not after an overtime victory Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway that gave Logano an automatic berth in the second round of the playoffs.
“This is how you start the playoffs, guys!” Logano shouted. “When it’s playoff time, it’s our turn.”
Logano won the 11th race of the season that went to overtime, tying the record set in 2017. He is trying to become the only three-time Cup champion still in the series. Kyle Busch, who did not make the playoffs, is the only other driver with two Cup titles.
“We were able to get better when we needed to and be able to get that first playoff run going and make a statement, that’s the key, right?” Logano said.
Ryan Blaney was initially ranked second for a 1-2 finish by Team Penske and Ford. Blaney lined up behind Logano and gave him the boost he needed to deny Daniel Suarez the win.
But after a review, Suarez was moved to second and Blaney was demoted to third. Team owner Roger Penske was not at the race because the Detroit resident was scheduled to attend the Lions’ NFL home opener later Sunday.
Suarez, who won the closest race in NASCAR history in February, had help from his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain. The two-lap overtime sprint to the finish began with Logano and Suarez lined up side by side on the front row, each with his teammate behind them for the push forward.
Blaney took out Logano first, but Chastain clung to the bumper of Suarez’s Chevrolet and the two battled until Blaney used a final push to give his Penske teammate the win.
Suarez, who moved up two places in the rankings to ninth thanks to his second-place finish, was disappointed not to have managed to secure a top-flight finish.
“No, I’m not happy at all. I’m happy, but not happy,” he said. “I felt like we had a good chance to win. Ross was doing an incredible job pushing, and I don’t know if he had a flat tire or something, but once I lost him I knew it was going to be tough. But that’s part of racing, right?”
Christopher Bell, driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, finished fourth, and Alex Bowman, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, finished fifth. Regular-season champion Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing was sixth, followed by Richard Childress Racing’s Busch, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, Hendrick’s William Byron and Penske’s Austin Cindric. Only two Toyotas, Bell and Reddick, finished in the top 10.
Larson crashes early
Larson was third in the closing laps of the first stage when his car inexplicably hit the outside wall.
“I don’t know if I blew a tire or what,” Larson said over the radio.
As the No. 5 Chevrolet was heading out onto the track, Larson was rear-ended by playoff teammate Chase Briscoe. The contact damaged Briscoe’s Ford.
The incident ended the race for both drivers.
Larson was leading the standings entering Sunday’s race before his crash, which he called one of the hardest hits of his career and came without any warning.
“No, not at all. Never. Not once,” Larson said. “I just got caught off guard. I never got loose, even in that corner. And then it started to slide. I corrected and overcorrected, I guess. I feel good. Luckily, everything held up in the car.”
His 37th-place finish dropped him to 10th in the standings; four drivers will be excluded from the race after the September 21 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Briscoe, who won the regular-season finale last week to advance to the playoffs, was ranked 13th of 16 entering the race. He is now last in the standings after finishing last in the race.
“That’s NASCAR: You can be on top one week and down the next week,” said Briscoe, who added that he was lucky not to be injured. “It was a big shock. One of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time. My privates hurt pretty bad at first, right when I hit them, that was a big hit, but other than that, I’m doing great.”
“My head, everything’s fine. I’m glad my ankles didn’t get damaged. The brake pedal and everything went through the floorboard, so I’m grateful I’m okay, for sure.”
Mixed Playoffs Day
It was a points-rich day for Bowman, who opened the week defending his position behind the wheel of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports car. His performances have been lackluster since an injury last season and Bowman needed a win in Chicago to earn a spot in the playoffs.
He started the playoffs ranked 12th and climbed to sixth by finishing fifth in Atlanta.
It’s the exact opposite for Denny Hamlin, who started the day in sixth but had a horrible weekend in Atlanta that ended with a last-lap crash and a 23rd-place finish. He’s dropped to 11th in the standings and is just three points off the starting line.
His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs, who led 37 laps, dropped to 17th and is the last driver above the cutoff line by a one-point margin.
The four drivers below the cutoff line and in danger of elimination are Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Briscoe.
To be continued
The Watkins Glen road course in New York will make its debut on the 10-race playoff schedule next Sunday. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott, Larson and William Byron have won the last five races at the track together since 2018, when Watkins Glen was part of the regular season schedule.
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