Joey Logano was fading late and Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney was closing fast in a dramatic showdown at Phoenix. Blaney battled his way by the Hendrick Motorsports drivers of Kyle Larson and William Byron before slicing away at the 2.3-second margin to Logano.
He almost got to his back bumper, but never got quite there as Logano captured the checkered flag and his third NASCAR Cup Series title. For Penske, they remain undefeated in the current era of NASCAR, winning the last three titles with the Gen-7 car.
“I love the playoffs,” declared Logano. “I love it, man. What a race! What a Team Penske battle there at the end. Had a good restart and was able to get in front of the 12. And he had a lot of long run speed there, and it was all I had there to hold him off.
“Man, three of them, that’s really special to get that. What a team. To fight through today, we went through a little bit of adversity throughout the race.”
“I’ve got the best team. I don’t know if I’m the best driver, but I’ve got the best team, and together we’re very well-rounded and can show up when it matters the most. We’ve got a mentally tough team that can make things happen when it matters.”
Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photo by: NASCAR Media
The margin was 0.330s at the finish line with Blaney just missing out on back-to-back Cup titles. William Byron finished third while Tyler Reddick was the lowest of the title combatants in sixth.
The AMR safety team was tended to Blaney after the race and he appeared exhaustion after the fight.
“Yeah, just worn out really and just couldn’t quite get there,” said Blaney. “And tried really hard to do so, just restart didn’t really work out and just got too far away from me and took me a while to pass a couple guys and just could never get by Joey. Yeah, ran out of time.
“But congrats to him, congrats to the 22 team … They put together a great playoffs, and we’re happy. If we’re going to race somebody, I’m happy it was him for the championship, and happy to be one-two for Roger [Penske, owner], three in a row for Roger, super amazing, and Ford.
“Just super-fast, just didn’t quite have enough there at the end. At least a Penske car won it, but heck of a battle. I hope the fans enjoyed it, and hopefully we come back even stronger next year.”
Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
Photo by: NASCAR Media
The final stage
Blaney and Logano each took a stage win…
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