Three-time and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano has had a slow start to the 2025 season, posting nothing higher than an eighth place finish through the season's first 10 races after he was disqualified from fifth at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday.
But given the fact that he won last year's title after a 15th place finish in the regular season point standings, this was by no means any cause for concern for Logano or the No. 22 Team Penske team.
And on Sunday, they proved it.
Logano won a crash-filled Wurth 400 presented by Liqui Moly at Texas Motor Speedway to make the 2025 season his 14th consecutive season with at least one victory, and his win presumably locked him into the playoffs for the eighth straight year, a streak that began in his first championship season back in 2018.
But mathematically speaking, Logano still has some work to do to secure his playoff spot.
Logano is the seventh different winner through the first 11 races of the 2025 season, and there are 26 regular season races. The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion and the 15 drivers who rank next highets in victories, with all tiebreakers being points.
So there is still a chance for there to be more than 16 regular season winners this season, in which case somebody with one race win would miss out on advancing to the postseason.
Winning twice locks a driver into the playoffs, as no more than 13 drivers can win twice during the regular season. But if there are more than 16 total playoff eligible drivers by the end of the season, the points tiebreaker is used to determine which single-race winners get in and which don't.
Three drivers, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, have all won multiple races this season and are therefore locked into the playoffs.
Logano is one of four drivers with just a single win. He is in a pretty good position points-wise, despite his slow start, to get in even if there are more than 16 winners, however. Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron leads all single-race winners in first place in the point standings, while Logano ranks second among the fourth in ninth.
Teammate Austin Cindric sits in 14th place, while Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry sits down in 24th. At this point, Berry is really the only current winner who should be hoping that there don't end up being more than 16 regular season race winners, since that scenario would put him in a bit of a sketchy situation.
Logano has won a regular season race and missed the playoffs before, with that happening in 2017, though that happened because his win at Richmond Raceway was encumbered. It still counted, but not toward playoff eligibility, similar to Austin Dillon's Richmond win last August.
The easiest way for Logano to clinch a playoff berth at this point would be to win again, and he has a chance to do that in this Sunday's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, where he is a three-time winner. Fox Sports 1 is set to provide live coverage beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!