NASCAR Cup Nashville: Logano stretches fuel to win in five overtimes

Logano inherited the lead after the third overtime when Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were both forced to pit for fuel. He appeared to be in position to claim the win in the fourth overtime, but a caution came out just before Logano took the white flag.

Knowing if they pit he would lose, Logano and his crew chief, Paul Wolfe, decided to remain out and got a good restart to start the fifth overtime.

With the fuel light on in his No. 22 Ford on during the final lap, Logano was able to fend off a challenge from Tyler Reddick and edged Zane Smith by 0.068 seconds to claim his win of the season and 33rd of his career.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang in victory lane (Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images)

"I know into (Turn) 3, my fuel light came on and it stumbled across the line. That was definitely all of it," Logano said after the race. "But so proud of this team. It's been a stressful few weeks trying to get into the playoffs, and being able to win here is huge for our season. Felt great to get that. Boy, it feels good.

"I'm out of breath. We had it won off of (Turn) 4 (in the fourth overtime) and then the caution came out, and I was like, 'oh, my God,' but you can't pit. You've kind of got to go for it. Boy, it was close."

Asked about the relief of making the playoffs, Logano said, "So much pressure. Trying to make the playoffs is not easy these days with these Next-Gen cars and everyone is so equally matched. I made a lot of mistakes, even some tonight, and it's nice to be able to overcome.

"This is a much-needed win for sure."

With Logano’s win, all three Penske drivers have now qualified for the playoffs with all three of their wins coming in the last five races.

Reddick finished third, Ryan Preece was fourth and Chris Buescher ended up fifth.

Completing the top 10 were Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson.

Hamlin appeared headed to victory after passing Chastain with seven laps of the original 300 laps remaining when Austin Cindric spun out to bring out a caution and send the race into the first of five overtimes.

Stage 1

Christopher Bell maintained his lead through a long round of green flag pit stops and held off Hamlin by 0.689 seconds to take the Stage 1 win. Reddick was third, Larson fourth and Brad Keselowski ended up fifth.

Stage 2

After the race resumed from a long delay, Bell held off Reddick by 0.596 seconds to take the Stage 2 win, his series-leading ninth of the 2024 season. Larson was third, Hamlin fourth and Keselowski rounded out the top five.

NASCAR red flagged the race after lap 136 when lightning and rain moved into the area of the track. The race resumed after a nearly one hour, 20-minute delay.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead lap cars all pitted with Bell first off pit road. Bell led Hamlin and Reddick when the race resumed with 108 laps remaining.

Chase Elliott spun out on his own coming off Turn 2 and slid sideways through the infield grass on lap 219, which brought out the eighth caution of the race.

The caution – which came close to the window to make it to end of the race on fuel – sent teams into varying strategies on pit road. Chastain was first off pit that elected to pit thanks to a two-tire stop.

Blaney remained on the track and inherited the lead and led the way on the restart with 75 laps remaining.

Bell, who had led the most so far in the race, spun on his own off Turn 2 and slammed the wall on lap 228, which brought an early end to his race.

.@CBellRacing was a dominant force in Sunday’s race, but it’s all over for the No. 20 machine! #NASCAR

@NASCARonNBC pic.twitter.com/oNgZ9Hc83p

— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) June 30, 2024

A handful of drivers pit but Blaney remained on the track and in the lead when the race resumed with 66 laps to go.

Keselowski spun on his own on lap 243 and shortly after the caution came out, Carson Hocevar spun out Harrison Burton as the latter was slowing for the caution.

Chastain powered around Blaney on the restart with 52 laps remaining to take the lead for the first time,

With 30 laps to go, Chastain emerged with a nearly three-second lead over Hamlin as both Blaney and Wallace were forced to pit for fuel.

Hamlin closed to within the back of Chastain’s rear bumper with 10 laps remaining but got loose and lost a lot of ground. He finally made his way around Chastain with seven of the originally scheduled 300 laps to go.

CLA	DRIVER	#		MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	PITS	POINTS
1	J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE	22		Ford	331	4:03'53.729		10	40
2	Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	71		Chevrolet	331	+0.068 4:03'53.797	0.068	11	35
3	T. Reddick23XI RACING	45		Toyota	331	+0.071 4:03'53.800	0.003	10	51
4	R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING	41		Ford	331	+0.251 4:03'53.980	0.180	11	33
5	C. BuescherRFK RACING	17		Ford	331	+0.275 4:03'54.004	0.024	11	37
6	R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE	12		Ford	331	+0.560 4:03'54.289	0.285	10	34
7	B. Wallace23XI RACING	23		Toyota	331	+0.576 4:03'54.305	0.016	12	31
8	K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	5		Chevrolet	331	+1.856 4:03'55.585	1.280	10	44
9	D. HemricKAULIG RACING	31		Chevrolet	331	+1.895 4:03'55.624	0.039	13	28
10	N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING	10		Ford	331	+1.947 4:03'55.676	0.052	9	28
11	A. AllmendingerKAULIG RACING	16		Chevrolet	331	+2.025 4:03'55.754	0.078	12
12	D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING	11		Toyota	331	+2.134 4:03'55.863	0.109	10	41
13	J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING	51		Ford	331	+2.164 4:03'55.893	0.030	15	24
14	A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	48		Chevrolet	331	+2.363 4:03'56.092	0.199	11	23
15	A. CindricTEAM PENSKE	2		Ford	331	+2.504 4:03'56.233	0.141	12	22
16	C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	77		Chevrolet	331	+2.525 4:03'56.254	0.021	10	21
17	T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	38		Ford	331	+2.655 4:03'56.384	0.130	11	20
18	C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	9		Chevrolet	331	+4.247 4:03'57.976	1.592	12	24
19	W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	24		Chevrolet	331	+4.906 4:03'58.635	0.659	13	22
20	C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	7		Chevrolet	331	+6.991 4:04'00.720	2.085	12	17
21	C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING	14		Ford	331	+8.549 4:04'02.278	1.558	10	16
22	D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING	99		Chevrolet	331	+10.810 4:04'04.539	2.261	13	15
23	T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING	54		Toyota	331	+33.491 4:04'27.220	22.681	13	19
24	M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING	19		Toyota	331	+36.321 4:04'30.050	2.830	10	19
25	B. KeselowskiRFK RACING	6		Ford	330	+1 Lap 4:04'03.276	1 Lap	15	24
26	J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING	4		Ford	327	+4 Laps 4:00'17.615	3 Laps	18	11
27	K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	8		Chevrolet	319	+12 Laps 3:50'35.028	8 Laps	14	10
28	H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING	21		Ford	312	+19 Laps 3:41'13.528	7 Laps	11	9
29	C. Heim23XI RACING	50		Toyota	312	+19 Laps 3:41'13.747	0.219	9
30	R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING	47		Chevrolet	312	+19 Laps 3:41'14.046	0.299	12	7
31	J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	42		Toyota	306	+25 Laps 3:35'06.406	6 Laps	17	6
32	A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	3		Chevrolet	305	+26 Laps 3:31'55.528	1 Lap	13	5
33	R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING	1		Chevrolet	304	+27 Laps 3:30'35.294	1 Lap	10	4
34	E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	43		Toyota	287	+44 Laps 3:19'24.465	17 Laps	17	3
35	M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	34		Ford	239	+92 Laps 2:48'27.944	48 Laps	13	2
36	C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING	20		Toyota	227	+104 Laps 2:36'44.265	12 Laps	9	21
37	R. HerbstRICK WARE RACING	15		Ford	201	+130 Laps 2:09'10.719	26 Laps	8
38	C. FinchumMBM	66		Ford	132	+199 Laps 1:28'57.267	69 Laps	8