In a perfect case of being in the right place at the right time, Joey Logano surged from fourth to first after Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, and Kyle Larson battled hard for lead, and he pulled away to win Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway in dramatic fashion.
As a chorus of boos from the rowdy Bristol crowd rang down on Logano in the immediate aftermath of his burnout, the biggest talking point from the night was the post-race fight between Hocevar and Ryan Blaney after the two got together on track with 43 laps to go.
Blaney became the first driver to take action against the polarizing driver, even if it ended poorly for him in the process. Unlike his Team Penske teammate Logano, though, Blaney's title hopes took a massive hit, as he now sits 52 points behind new championship leader Larson.
Logano may not be the points leader after his third win of the season (all since July) and 40th of his career, but he is just 16 points behind and in prime position to come away with a fourth title if the momentum continues. That is, if he can make it through the upcoming three-race stretch on 1.5-mile tracks, which would be a huge accomplishment considering his season-long struggles on those layouts.
Joey Logano's performance over next three races will be crucial toward title hopes
After stops at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval of Darlington Raceway, the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, and the 0.533-mile bullring Bristol, the next three races are all set to be contested at 1.5-mile tracks: Kansas Speedway this Sunday, Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday, and Charlotte Motor Speedway the Sunday after that.
For a driver and organization that have excelled on the shorter and flatter tracks this season, as evidenced by all three of Logano's wins coming on such layouts, the next three weeks could make or break his title pursuit before some more favorable tracks line up to end the season.
In the five races on the traditional 1.5-mile intermediate layouts this season, Logano only has one top 10 (eighth at Charlotte) and two finishes of 30th or worse. Simply put, the entire Team Penske organization has been off compared to the Toyotas on these tracks this season.
For Logano, specifically, he has scored under 30 points in each of the five races contested on 1.5-mile ovals, highlighting the lack of pace in his No. 22 Mustang and the inability to score valuable stage points. Considering the added importance of running well and the 15-point bonus that comes with a win in the revamped Chase format, the upcoming schedule does not line up favorably for Logano.
That said, this is a driver who rubbed fans the wrong way under the previous elimination-style format by running relatively poorly during the regular season, only to get hot at the right time and hoist the Bill France Cup over drivers who were more consistent all year. While that may be true, everyone played by the same rules and Logano just so happened to do it better than anyone else under the format that was in place at the time.
This is also someone who has ironically won each of his Cup Series titles in even-numbered years and always seems to make a late-season push. After all, he was 20th in points in late June and in danger of not even qualifying for the Chase, only to win two races in a four-race span at North Wilkesboro Speedway and Richmond Raceway to completely change the narrative and position himself to give NASCAR fans their rudest awakening yet.
Before his Bristol win, Logano let an opportunity at a win slip away at Gateway with a third place finish. Still, he responded by stealing the win at Bristol and scoring a valuable 73 of 76 possible points.
Keep in mind, Logano would be 268 points behind Denny Hamlin in the standings if the postseason field had not been reset for the Chase. He was also still 65 points behind even after the reset, so now at just 16 back, there is no denying the opportunity that has presented itself.
As we have already learned before, Logano has a knack for stepping up in the most pressure-packed situations when nobody expects him to be a factor. If he can do that again over the next three weeks at some less favorable tracks, the 2026 title could be his for the taking, even under the new format.
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