Joey Logano wins NASCAR playoff race in overtime: Results, highlights from Atlanta
By Ellen J. Horrow, USA TODAY,
2024-09-08
Joey Logano came up clutch when it mattered with a big assist from teammate Ryan Blaney to win the first NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in overtime, Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Logano, who entered the playoffs ranked ninth of 16 drivers , won just his second race of the season and his first since taking the checkered flag at Nashville on June 30. But the two-time Cup Series champion knows how to turn it on once the playoffs begin, and the trend continued in overtime of the Quaker State 400 .
"They just give me really fast cars on superspeedways and we always find ourselves towards the front of them," Logano said of his No. 22 Team Penske Ford crew. "We had such a really good team here today. It was awesome to finally capitalize on a fast race car and win here in Atlanta again."
Joey Logano waves to fans as he walks onstage during driver introductions prior to the Sunday's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the opening race of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Logan Riely, Getty Images
Logano lined up on the inside of the front row for the overtime restart alongside Daniel Suarez, who won the February race at Atlanta in a three-wide photo finish over Blaney and Kyle Busch. Blaney was positioned directly behind his Team Penske teammate on the second row, while Suarez had his Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain lined up behind him on the green-white-checkered restart. Both Logano and Suarez got strong pushes from their teammates once the green flag flew, but Chastain got loose and couldn’t sustain his push, allowing Logano to take the lead and Blaney to pull up alongside Suarez.
Logano was able to hold his lead with the checkered flag in site as a multi-car crash broke out behind the leaders. Suarez just edged Blaney for second as playoff drivers finished in the first six spots, with Christopher Bell coming home fourth, Alex Bowman fifth and Tyler Reddick sixth. Kyle Busch was the only non-playoff driver to finish in the top 10, taking seventh. He was followed by Chase Elliott, William Byron and Stage 2 winner Austin Cindric.
"It was nice to run strong today, but when you are that close and obviously we had a good shot, it’s never too fun," Suarez said. "Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough."
Chastain got into the wall on the final lap, losing control of his car as he tried to get back to Suarez to give him one final push. That caused as stack-up behind him with playoff drivers Harrison Burton and Denny Hamlin getting caught up in the incident along with Bubba Wallace, Cody Ware, Todd Gilliland, BJ McLeod, Josh Berry, Erik Jones and Zane Smith.
With the victory, Logano advances to the second round of the playoffs.
Logano vaults into the lead of the playoff standings with his victory in Sunday's Quaker State 400, while Ryan Blaney moves from fifth up to second with his third-place finish and Suarez jumps from 11th to ninth. Kyle Larson, who entered the playoffs first among the 16 drivers, took a hit when an early crash forced him out of the race.
The top 12 drivers after three races will advance to the second round, while the bottom four will be eliminated. The second playoff race is a road-course race next Sunday at Watkins Glen International.
Here are the playoff standings through Atlanta ( x- clinched berth in second round):
Joey Logano prevailed in a green-white-checkered overtime to win the opening playoff race of the NASCAR Cup Series, Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Logano got multiple huge pushes from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney to pull in front of Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez on the first lap of overtime in the Quaker State 400. Suarez just eged Blaney for second place coming to the checkered flag as a big collision broke out behind them.
Noah Gragson spun in his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford after contact from Harrison Burton and hit the inside wall to bring out the caution flag and send the race to overtime.
Team Penske's Joey Logano had just passed Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez for the lead before the yello2 flag came out. Each driver will have a teammate behind him on green-white checkered restart with Penske's Ryan Blaney in third and Trackhouse's Ross Chastain in fourth. Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell will make up the third row in fifth and sixth.
A sponsor sign fell onto the track on Lap 249 of 260, bringing out the caution flag, just as Daniel Suarez had taken the lead from Ty Gibbs. Suarez won the February race at Atlanta in a three-wide photo finish over Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch.
Busch and Joey Logano make up the second row, followed by Ross Chastain and William Byron in Row 3 and Blaney and Christopher Bell in Row 4. A handful of cars came down pit road for a splash of fuel prior to the restart.
Kyle Busch and William Byron led the field on the restart with 49 laps to go in the playoff race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott make up the second row followed by Michael McDowell and Alex Bowman.
Chris Buescher got loose and slid up into Ryan Blaney, who spun and collected Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 206 of 260 bringing out the caution. Buescher hit the wall and ended up driving his car to garage with damage. Truex drove his car to pit road for repairs. Separately, Erik Jones brought his car to pit road with a flat tire.
On the ensuing caution lap, a number of cars hit pit road for fuel including race leaders Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs and playoff drivers Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton and Denny Hamlin. Blaney also came down pit road for minor repairs and fuel.
Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace stayed out on the most recent caution and led the field to green with 79 laps to go. Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney, who both pitted, followed in third and fourth.
John Hunter Nemechek got loose on Lap 176 of 260 and spun all the way across the track before hitting nose first on the inside wall with his No. 42 Toyota to bring out the caution flag. Nemechek was running 23rd at the time.
Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell were leading the field at the time of the caution with William Byron, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez rounding out the top six.
Team Penske's Austin Cindric led nearly wire to wire in the second stage and maintained it to win it over teammate Ryan Blaney, who won Stage 1. Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman finished third, Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez was fourth and Hendrick's William Byron was fifth. All are playoff drivers.
Non-playoff drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ross Chastain finished sixth and seventh, followed by playoff drivers Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell.
Cindric broght the field down pit road for fuel and tires for the final stage. Ross Chastain and Michael McDowell took just two tires as opposed to four to win the race off pit road.
The 16 drivers in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs pose onstage during driver introductions prior to the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Logan Riely, Getty Images
Following 55 green-flag laps in the second stage, the yellow flag waved for debris on the front stretch. Team Penske's Austin Cindric has led every lap of Stage 2 so far and led the field down pit road for fuel and tires.
Cindric maintained the lead, followed by Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez, who won at Atlanta back in February. Tyler Reddick made contact with Carson Hocevar on pit road and Christopher Bell was penalized for pitting outside of his box. Forty-one laps remain in Stage 2.
Austin Cindric, who finished second in the opening stage, took the lead in the early laps of Stage 2 following a strong push from teammate Ryan Blaney, who won Stage 1. Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman and Willam Byron run third and fourth on Lap 80. The second stage is 100 laps, following a 60-lap opening stage.
Following Kyle Larson's huge crash on Lap 57, which also collected Chase Briscoe, the opening stage of the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway ended under caution. Ryan Blaney won the stage followed by his Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric, Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman and Penske's Joey Logano. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fifth, followed by Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs.
All but Stenhouse and Chastain made the 2024 playoffs.
Kyle Larson slammed hard into the Turn 2 wall on Lap 57 in a violent crash as the opening stage was nearing its end. Larson, who entered the playoffs as the points leader, was racing in the Top 3 when he wiggled then hit the wall straight on with the front of his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet before sliding back onto the track and getting hit in the rear by Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe.
Both drivers were able to climb out of their cars, which were badly damaged, ending their race early. Briscoe made the playoffs in the final regular-season race by winning last weekend at Darlington.
After Michael McDowell led the first 28 laps of the Quaker State 400, there was finally a pass for the lead. Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney of Team Penske dived down low in Turn 1 and cleared McDowell for the lead on Lap 29. The top six cars are all from Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports: Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Joey Logano of Penkse, and Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron from Hendrick.
Michael McDowell may not be in the playoffs, but that doesn't mean he's not as hungry for a victory as the 16 drivers seeking a championship. McDowell won the pole in Saturday's qualifying and has led all 25 laps so far in the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The green flag has waved for the first NASCAR Cup Series playoff race of the 2024 season. Pole winner Michael McDowell and reigning series champion are on the front row to start the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
What TV channel is the NASCAR playoff race at Atlanta on?
USA Network is broadcasting the Quaker State 400 and has a pre-race show beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Will there be a live stream of the NASCAR playoff race at Atlanta?
The Quaker State 400 can be live streamed on the NBC Sports website and the NBC Sports app. The race is also available to stream on Fubo .
It’s going to be a great day for racing! The forecast at the track, according to AccuWeather, is calling for sunny to partly cloudy skies with temperatures reaching the high-70s or low-80s by the time the race begins.
The Quaker State 400 is 260 laps around the 1.54-mile track for a total of 400.4 miles. The race will feature three segments (laps per stage) – Stage 1: 60 laps; Stage 2: 100 laps; Stage 3: 100 laps.
Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers – Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs – will start at the rear in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta after changing plug wires. Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota had an issue with the plug wire Saturday and was well off the pace in qualifying. The issue with Truex’s No. 19 Toyota and Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota were discovered post-qualifying. All three JGR drivers are in the playoffs, along with Christopher Bell, who had no issues.
Michael McDowell will start on the pole Sunday after posting the top spot in Saturday’s qualifying. Reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney will start alongside on the front row as Ford drivers took the top five spots in qualifying and six of the top seven.
Sixteen drivers earned berths in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs – 14 by virtue of a regular season victory and two winless drivers who made the playoffs on points.
There are 10 total races in the playoffs, including the championship race at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10. The playoffs feature three rounds with three races per round before the final race. The four drivers with the fewest points will be eliminated after the third, sixth and ninth races, leaving a final four to race for the title.
If a playoff driver wins a race in one of the three rounds, he will automatically advance to the next round. If non-playoff drivers win those races, however, playoff drivers will advance based on points accumulated during each of the three rounds.
What time does the NASCAR playoff race at Atlanta start?
The Quaker State 400 starts at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
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