Logano Comes Up Clutch in Talladega, Hamlin Ties for Final Chase Spot

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Joey Logano won the Hellman’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon to advance to the next round of the Chase.

Logano came into Talladega tied for the final spot in the Chase, and needed to finish ahead of Austin Dillon to move on to the next round.  Logano said his team came up big when he needed them.

“This feels good, to win in a clutch moment like that,” Logano said.  “To come in here with the pressure on, this team excels when that happens.”

 

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Logano had a problem on an early pit stop, when he dragged his team’s jack around the track, but the jack never came loose and his team was able to remove it with no damage to the car.  Logano said his team did a good job of staying calm when they’re season was on the line.

“Plenty early enough in the day that we had that mistake happen, and no one got worked up,” Logano said.  “I’m ready for the challenge ahead of us, and this team’s definitely ready.”

On the final lap, Denny Hamlin finished third by .006 seconds over Kurt Busch.  The finish tied him with Austin Dillon for the final Chase spot, which went to Hamlin due to the tiebreaker of best finish in the round.  Hamlin said he’s excited he may finally have good luck in the Chase.

“This is really the first true Chase fortune I’ve had in my 11-year career,” Hamlin said.  “I knew it was going to be a rough day…I knew this was the best case scenario for us, to go out here and finish in the top 5 and hope the chips fall in a good way for us.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Brian Scott

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Kurt Busch

5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

6. Kyle Larson

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Aric Almirola

9. Austin Dillon

10. AJ Allmendinger

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Chase Elliott

13. Paul Menard

14. Ryan Newman

15. Greg Biffle

16. Michael McDowell

17. Trevor Bayne

18. Clint Bowyer

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Danica Patrick

21. Landon Cassill

22. Chris Buescher

23. Jimmie Johnson

24. David Ragan

25. Regan Smith

26. Ryan Reed

27. Matt DiBenedetto

28. Matt Kenseth

29. Carl Edwards

30. Kyle Busch

31. Bobby Labonte

32. Tony Stewart

33. Michael Annett

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt

35. Kasey Kahne

36. Alex Bowman

37. Reed Sorenson

38. Brad Keselowski

39. Casey Mears

40. Martin Truex Jr.