Logana Wins at Talladega, Gets Booed, Eliminator Round Set

Joey Logana's win of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega (October 25, 2015) was meet with chorus of boos. After the race, the Chase for the Sprint Cup field was trimmed down to eight drivers.

Through no fault of his own, Joey Logano may have achieved the most unpopular sweep in NASCAR history on Sunday afternoon.

Why? Because his victory in the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway knocked Dale Earnhardt Jr. out of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup—by a matter of inches.

When NASCAR threw the third caution of the race moments after the first bona fide attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag restart on Lap 195—with Kevin Harvick’s engine turning sour and cars wrecking behind him—Logano was inches ahead Earnhardt.

That call ended the race, giving Logano his third straight victory in the Chase’s Contender Round, the first time since the elimination format was instituted last season that a driver has won all three races in a single round.

The victory was Logano’s series-best sixth of the season, his first at Talladega and the 14th of his career.

"I had a good start, and then the 24 was pushing me and the plan worked perfectly but the inside lane started pulling back up," Logano said of the final restart. "I saw the (caution) lights come on when I was still in the lead, and I thought we had it.

"It’s all about how the timing loops are and the camera makes sure that is what happened. It’s such a crazy race. There were such long green flag runs, you never see that. To pull it into victory lane here at Talladega is so cool."

In addition to Logano, Carl Edwards (fifth on Sunday), Jeff Gordon (third), Kurt Busch (10th), Brad Keselowski (fourth), Martin Truex Jr. (seventh), Harvick (15th) and Kyle Busch (11th) advanced to the Eliminator Round of the Chase.

As formidable as Logano’s achievement was, it didn’t sit well with the heavily partisan Earnhardt crowd in the Talladega grandstands. Catcalls, debris and thumbs-down gestures greeted Logano’s celebratory burnout after NASCAR declared him the winner

The green-white-checkered-flag restart came four laps after NASCAR extended a yellow-flag period when cars began wrecking in the tri-oval before the leaders crossed the start/finish line coming to green to start Lap 191.

Though NASCAR had amended a rule before the race, limiting the number of attempts at a green-white-checkered to one (down from three), the sanctioning body ruled the first try was not a bona fide attempt since the yellow waved before the first cars reached the stripe.

Earnhardt supported the amended rule before the race, and he continued to do so afterward, despite the outcome.

"Everybody is going to ask me a hundred times how I feel about the green-white-checkered rule now," Earnhardt said. "I feel good about it. It was a good safe call. The race ended per the rules, and I'm totally OK with that."

The only Iowa driver in the field this weekend was Landon Cassill (Fairfax, IA) who finished 34th.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP RACE
CAMPINGWORLD.com 500
RACE RESULTS
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
OCTOBER 25, 2015

1. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 196, $283973.

2. (5) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 196, $197100.

3. (1) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 196, $193886.

4. (11) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 196, $170716.

5. (15) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 196, $128100.

6. (13) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 196, $123665.

7. (43) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 196, $127860.

8. (29) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 196, $132498.

9. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 196, $109515.

10. (14) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 196, $108790.

11. (16) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 196, $134431.

12. (18) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 196, $124230.

13. (33) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 196, $90830.

14. (26) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 196, $131491.

15. (7) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 196, $138305.

16. (25) Aric Almirola, Ford, 196, $129886.

17. (21) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 196, $113945.

18. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 196, $132036.

19. (2) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 196, $102025.

20. (19) Greg Biffle, Ford, 196, $118233.

21. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 196, $127350.

22. (34) Cole Whitt, Ford, 196, $104183.

23. (35) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 196, $98408.

24. (23) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 196, $113283.

25. (12) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 196, $112189.

26. (4) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 196, $121911.

27. (20) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 196, $92400.

28. (27) Michael McDowell, Ford, 195, $81150.

29. (40) Josh Wise, Ford, 195, $84000.

30. (22) David Ragan, Toyota, 195, $111539.

31. (28) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 195, $106328.

32. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, Accident, 194, $100108.

33. (37) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Accident, 194, $89847.

34. (41) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 194, $80100.

35. (42) Travis Kvapil(i), Chevrolet, 193, $79925.

36. (31) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 193, $97770.

37. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Accident, 192, $97634.

38. (30) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, 192, $74877.

39. (24) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, Engine, 182, $100796.

40. (36) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 177, $68305.

41. (32) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, Electrical, 168, $62805.

42. (39) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, Engine, 130, $66805.

43. (9) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, Engine, 84, $55305.