Joey Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe’s fuel strategy gamble paid off on Sunday (Oct. 20) as the No. 22 team won their way into the Championship 4 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Logano opted to stay out rather than pitting in stage 3, and despite a hard-charging Christopher Bell, Logano held on to claim his third win of the season.
Bell, Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, John Hunter Nemechek and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10.
Bell pulled away to the race lead shortly after the green flag, but it was Ryan Blaney who impressed early on, moving inside the top 30 within eight laps. Chase Elliott also carved his way through the pack early, moving up 10 positions from his spot on the grid through the first 25 laps.
Green flag pit stops started on lap 35, with Larson, Byron, Logano, Chastain and a host of their peers coming down pit road. Bell pitted one lap later on lap 36, as did Tyler Reddick, with an 8.6 second stop by Bell’s pit crew keeping the No. 20 out in front. Blaney pitted on lap 40, being the final driver to pit during the cycle.
On lap 64, the first yellow flag of the day was thrown for the No. 3 of Austin Dillon. Dillon’s Chevrolet went around with some help from Daniel Hemric, sending Dillon hard into the outside wall in turn 3 and ending his day.
Pit road was filled with a litany of strategies during the caution period, with Truex taking two tires to claim the race lead. Byron, Brad Keselowski and Buescher also took two tires.
Unfortunately for Erik Jones, an inadvertent three-tire stop took place, with Jones – who was set to be the lucky dog – losing a wheel as he came off of pit road.
Truex and Byron led the field back to green on lap 72, but Reddick got around them to take the lead on lap 75. Bell passed Truex for second on lap 79, but was unable to catch Reddick, with the No. 45 taking home the stage 1 victory. Bell, Byron, Logano and Larson were the other playoff drivers to earn points in stage 1.
The top four off pit road – Ty Gibbs, Elliott, Bowman and Logano – took two tires during the caution period, with Bell being the first car off pit road with four tires. Unfortunately for Larson, a piece of aluminum hit the nose of the No. 5, forcing the 2021 champion to come back down pit road before the restart.
Hamlin – who chose not the pit under the yellow flag – was quickly swallowed up by the field, but as Gibbs took the…
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