Joey Logano makes history with fifth top-five Chase finish in a row
Lost in the maelstrom and cacophony of the post-race brawl at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Saturday night Team Penske's Joey Logano became the first driver in the 11-year history of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup to open the playoffs with five consecutive top-five finishes.
Logano wound up fourth in the Bank of America 500 at CMS behind race-winner Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Jamie McMurray.
Despite the good finishing position, Logano wasn't a threat to win at CMS like he has been most every week of late. In fact, Logano was the only driver in the top nine finishers who failed to lead even a single lap.
Still, with victories in each of the first two Chase rounds, along with three fourth-place finishes, Logano is locked into the eight-driver, semifinal Eliminator Round. Logano also leads the points and his average Chase finish is 2.8, far and away the best in the field. In the last 12 races, Logano has finished worse than sixth just once.
What was especially impressive about his Charlotte run is that his Team Penske Ford frankly wasn't that fast and he was not up front leading laps like he usually does. But a late-race pit call by Logano's crew chief, Todd Gordon, to put on four tires was enough to let Logano make it into the top five yet again.
"We weren't that good tonight," Logano said after the race. "This Pennzoil Platinum Ford just didn't have any speed."
Logano credited his crew chief with making the difference.
"It was a great call by Todd Gordon at the end," Logano said. "He gave me four tires at the end and let me be aggressive. The pit stop was great there at the end and we gained a couple spots and then got the outside lane and was able to let it rip. We picked up quite a few spots on that last restart and came home with a fourth-place finish after all of that. We'll take that. The last couple of years I haven't been very fast here, so I've got to figure that out."
At least Logano doesn't have to sweat out Talladega next Sunday, not does Charlotte winner Harvick.
"Obviously, this doesn't do a whole bunch for us because we're in the next round, but we still need to keep that momentum like we have been," Logano said. "It was definitely a hard-fought (race) for this whole Pennzoil team and they did a good job."
VIDEO: Joey Logano talks about his fourth-place finish in the Bank of America 500
