NASCAR Cup Las Vegas: Logano capitalises on fuel strategy to win and nail title fight spot

Joey Logano used a contra-fuel strategy to charge to victory at Las Vegas and seal his place in the NASCAR Cup championship showdown.

While most of the frontrunners pitted for fuel under green flag running, he was among a small contingent that stayed out and stretched his fuel to the finish. Daniel Suarez led the drivers on the fuel-save strategy, but with help from Penske team-mate Ryan Blaney, Logano snatched the top spot away in the closing laps.

Logano held on against a charging Christopher Bell to win the race and lock himself into the Championship 4. The last time he won the autumn race at Vegas, he went on to win the title as well in 2022.

Logano credited his crew chief Paul Wolfe with a "great call" as he recalled the final laps of the race: "Everybody does a good job feeding me the info I needed. You have to go the right pace to make sure you get in front of the #99 [Suarez] but not get to where the #20 [Bell] was going to catch me. Just an incredible day.

“It takes the whole team to do the fuel-mileage stuff. It's not just the engineer, or the driver, or the spotter - it takes all of us together to do it. Total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and were able to maximise it at the end."

It's been a dramatic week for Logano, who was eliminated from the playoffs last weekend at the Roval, only to be reinstated after Alex Bowman's disqualification. Now he has the opportunity to become the first three-time NASCAR Cup champion under this knockout format.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro (Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images)

Bell, who dominated the race before fuel became a factor, appeared shocked after the race, and has left Vegas with a 42-point margin, with only Logano locked in for the title showdown. Suarez ended up finishing third with William Byron fourth and Alex Bowman fifth.

Tyler Reddick won the opening stage, but minutes later, he became the first driver to flip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a NASCAR stock car since 2000. In a bizarre crash, he collided with Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski with all three spinning down into the infield.

Reddick's car dug in and rolled completely over before landing back on its wheels, ending his race.

The Team Penske duo of Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric were also involved in the incident, with Blaney and Elliott the only drivers with damage who were able to continue, but they were both multiple laps down after repairs.

NASCAR Cup Las Vegas - Race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	J. Logano Team Penske	22		Ford	267	2:52'24.181		11	49
2	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20		Toyota	267	+0.662 2:52'24.843	0.662	10	54
3	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99		Chevrolet	267	+1.191 2:52'25.372	0.529	9	37
4	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24		Chevrolet	267	+2.648 2:52'26.829	1.457	10	48
5	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48		Chevrolet	267	+5.454 2:52'29.635	2.806	10	37
6	M. Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing	19		Toyota	267	+6.051 2:52'30.232	0.597	10	48
7	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1		Chevrolet	267	+6.735 2:52'30.916	0.684	11	30
8	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11		Toyota	267	+8.370 2:52'32.551	1.635	8	29
9	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42		Toyota	267	+10.446 2:52'34.627	2.076	8	28
10	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17		Ford	267	+12.397 2:52'36.578	1.951	10	38
11	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5		Chevrolet	267	+13.116 2:52'37.297	0.719	12	27
12	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23		Toyota	267	+20.292 2:52'44.473	7.176	11	27
13	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8		Chevrolet	267	+20.451 2:52'44.632	0.159	10	24
14	C. Lajoie Rick Ware Racing	51		Ford	267	+21.651 2:52'45.832	1.200	9	23
15	H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing	21		Ford	267	+24.739 2:52'48.920	3.088	9	22
16	Z. Smith Spire Motorsports	71		Chevrolet	267	+27.419 2:52'51.600	2.680	9	21
17	J. Haley Spire Motorsports	7		Chevrolet	267	+27.451 2:52'51.632	0.032	10	24
18	N. Gragson Stewart-Haas Racing	10		Ford	267	+27.587 2:52'51.768	0.136	9	19
19	D. Hemric Kaulig Racing	31		Chevrolet	267	+30.747 2:52'54.928	3.160	9	18
20	M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports	34		Ford	267	+30.790 2:52'54.971	0.043	10	17
21	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	15		Ford	267	+31.829 2:52'56.010	1.039	10	16
22	R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing	41		Ford	266	+1 Lap 2:52'25.943	1 Lap	9	16
23	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 2:52'29.449	3.506	10	14
24	J. Berry Stewart-Haas Racing	4		Ford	266	+1 Lap 2:52'30.126	0.677	9	13
25	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43		Toyota	266	+1 Lap 2:52'36.505	6.379	11	12
26	C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing	14		Ford	266	+1 Lap 2:52'51.297	14.792	10	11
27	R. Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing	47		Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 2:52'55.544	4.247	8	10
28	J. Johnson Legacy Motor Club	84		Toyota	265	+2 Laps 2:52'30.796	1 Lap	8	9
29	S. van Gisbergen Kaulig Racing	16		Chevrolet	265	+2 Laps 2:52'39.117	8.321	10
30	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54		Toyota	264	+3 Laps 2:52'25.172	1 Lap	12	12
31	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	38		Ford	263	+4 Laps 2:52'41.343	1 Lap	12	6
32	R. Blaney Team Penske	12		Ford	259	+8 Laps 2:52'24.377	4 Laps	12	5
33	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9		Chevrolet	230	+37 Laps 2:47'07.303	29 Laps	12	4	Suspension
34	A. Cindric Team Penske	2		Ford	96	+171 Laps 1:13'47.510	134 Laps	8	5	DVP
35	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45		Toyota	89	+178 Laps 1:01'13.625	7 Laps	6	12	Accident
36	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6		Ford	89	+178 Laps 1:01'13.626	0.001	6	7	Accident
37	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3		Chevrolet	61	+206 Laps 32'21.517	28 Laps	4	1	Accident
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