Joey Logano opened the playoffs with a win on Sunday.
Logano secured a spot in the second round of the playoffs after passing Daniel Suarez on a green-white-block restart in Atlanta. Logano got a push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney to get past Suarez and was easily holding on for the win when a crash occurred in the field in the final two corners.
The two-time Cup Series champion is one of the best drivers at tracks like Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta. It was his second victory at Atlanta since the track was redesigned in 2022 to race more like Daytona and Talladega with cars artificially placed together.
Logano’s win comes at a time when many playoff drivers were having terrible days. That group included Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. Larson crashed in the first stage while running third, and Briscoe slammed into him.
Truex was involved in a crash with Blaney and Chris Buescher. Blaney’s car was damaged and his team wrapped him in tape, but somehow he was still competitive. Blaney nearly passed Suarez for second on the last lap.
Hamlin, meanwhile, spent the day running at the back of the grid after starting last due to a qualifying problem. Hamlin complained about a loose car all race and never made it through the field before the last-lap crash.
The top 10, meanwhile, was filled with nine playoff drivers. Seventh-place Kyle Busch was the only non-playoff driver outside the 16-driver playoff field to finish in the top 10.
The green-white-block restart was prompted by two cautions in the final 10 laps of the scheduled 260-lap race. The first of those cautions came with 10 laps to go when a Walmart sign hanging across the track fell onto the frontstretch.
Yes, really.
The second caution came out when Noah Gragson spun on the backstretch and hit the inside wall. Given the nature of the race in Atlanta, it’s a bit of a surprise that more cars didn’t crash after the Walmart sign fell onto the track.
The biggest loser from the board’s demise was Ty Gibbs. He was leading the race and had fresher tires and more fuel than the drivers around him. However, he made some poor lane decisions in the final laps of the race and fell back to ninth before Gragson crashed and dropped even more places at the checkered flag to 18th.
Atlanta is the first race of a three-race first round, with races on a street circuit at Watkins Glen and the iconic short high banks of Bristol to complete the first round. With Logano’s win advancing him to the next round, there are 11 spots up for grabs in the second round of the playoffs, with four drivers eliminated after Bristol.
Playoff standings
1. Joey Logano (win)
2. Ryan Blaney (+45 to 13th)
3. Christopher Bell (+40)
4. Tyler Reddick (+33)
5.William Byron (+33)
6. Alex Bowman (+27)
7. Austin Cindric (+27)
8. Chase Elliot (+24)
9. Daniel Suárez (+22)
10. Kyle Larson (+15)
11. Denny Hamlin (+2)
12. Ty Gibbs (tie)
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Harrison Burton (-15)
15. Martin Truex Jr. (-18)
16. Chase Briscoe (-20)
Race results
1. Joey Logano
2. Ryan Blaney
3.Daniel Suarez
4.Christopher Bell
5. Alex Bowman
6. Tyler Reddick
7. Kyle Busch
8. Chase Elliott
9.William Byron
10. Austin Cindric
11. Daniel Henric
12. Justin Haley
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Ross Chastain
15. Corey LaJoie
16. Carson however
17. Ryan Preece
18. Ty Gibbs
19. Brad Keselowski
20.Austin Dillon
21. JJ Yeley
22.Michael McDowell
23. Zane Smith
24. Denny Hamlin
25. BJ McLeod
26. Erik Jones
27. Todd Gilliland
28. Josh Berry
29. Bubba Wallace
30. Cody Ware
31.Harrison Burton
32. Shane van Gisbergen
33. John Hunter Nemechek
34. Noah Gragson
35. Martin Truex Jr.
36. Chris Buescher
37. Kyle Larson
38. Chase Briscoe
