Joey Logano stretches fuel to win Ally 400 in quintuple overtime

LEBANON, Tenn. — It took stretching the fuel far beyond the fuel window and fierce defense in the fifth overtime for Joey Logano to win Sunday’s Ally 400.

The fuel window Sunday was 80 laps. Logano stretched the fuel 110 laps and held off Zane Smith and Tyler Reddick to win at Nashville Superspeedway.

Logano entered the day just a few points above the playoff cutline. That is not a problem as he is now virtually locked into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

“It’s been a hard season. And being on that cut line, I tell you it sucks. It’s just not fun. It’s hard and you just want a little bit of relief of the pressure and with seven weeks to go until the playoffs, it gives us a chance to breathe for a second and start just kind of working on our car a little bit differently and just sleep better, to be honest with you. I’m proud of this team and proud to be here in Victory Lane, for sure.” Logano said.

The race featured five overtime restarts.

OVERTIME NO. 1

Austin Cindric wrecked on the backstretch as Denny Hamlin was coming to the white flag ahead of Ross Chastain. During the first overtime attempt, Kyle Larson pushed Hamlin from the inside of the second row, then hit the apron and turned Chastain into the outside wall. The wreck collected Ty Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and William Byron. Dillon and Chastain’s days ended after this. They finished 32nd and 33rd.

“On the first restart, I was just trying to get Denny (Hamlin) washed off the bottom so that I could get some clean air and give myself an opportunity to win. I felt like from the second position, I wouldn’t have a chance. I just tried to run in with him and got myself really tight and into Ross (Chastain), so caused that crash,” Larson said.

Kyle Busch fell to 19th after he didn’t maintain his pace but NASCAR moved him to fourth for the second overtime attempt.

OVERTIME NO. 2

Denny Hamlin handled the restart. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece bumped into Harrison Burton. Burton spun into Justin Haley and Corey Heim, also collecting Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Stenhouse, Heim and Burton all went to the garage afterward.

OVERTIME NO. 3

The third attempt lasted for a couple of seconds. Kyle Larson’s car stumbled, causing Kyle Busch to wreck.

Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. pitted, handing 1-2 to Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe.

OVERTIME NO. 4

Logano ran Briscoe up the track and took the lead. As he entered the dogleg, Josh Berry wrecked and drew a caution.

OVERTIME NO. 5

Logano emerged as the leader again while Briscoe faded, short on fuel. Tyler Reddick roared through the field, driving from sixth to second on the final lap.

Finally, the white flag flew.

In turn one and turn three, Reddick got to the outside of Logano but Logano defended well enough. He beat Zane Smith to the line by 0.068 seconds and Reddick by 0.071 seconds.

“A lot of teamwork there. You have to give a lot of credit to our fueler, Nick Hensley, our engine department with Roush Yates building obviously some engines that could also manage fuel really well, and some guts – a lot of cajones made it happen,” Logano said.

Reddick was dejected after the race.

“It’s tough. Had just about everything go right into the last lap, I just didn’t get the job done,” Reddick said.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 330): Joey Logano, Zane Smith, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Daniel Hemric, Noah Gragson

Chase Briscoe finished 21st.

“At the end, you don’t really expect to have three or four green-white-checkers, so we ran out of fuel taking the white flag. It definitely stinks whenever you’re in contention there. I thought on the second-to-last one I had a good shot to potentially win the race and we finished 21st or something like that. It’s frustrating but that’s part of it,” Briscoe said.

Martin Truex Jr. wrecked in turn two in overtime. He finished 24th. Meanwhile, Chase Elliott spun off of turn four on the final lap and finished 18th.

After all the chaos, the original leaders Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson finished 12th and eighth, respectively.

“We ran out under caution. He (Chris Gabehart, crew chief) was monitoring fuel pressure. I let him know what the fuel pressure was. We were fine, just running out of gas and we did under caution. It was the right call. I was going down pitlane there out of gas. I’m surprised we lasted that many green-white-checkers honestly. Certainly, stinks being 15 seconds from a win at the end and then 10 seconds from a win, and then to finish 12th. It’s just part of it,” Hamlin said.

“On the third one, we ran out of fuel taking off. We just had a couple of good restarts right there at the end. Happy to get a top-10, but a little bit bummed how it transpired,” Larson said.

ALLY 400 RECAP

The race saw 15 cautions but none in the 90-lap first stage.

The first stage did see numerous drivers stay out long, hoping to gain track position through some strategy. While none of them finished in the top-10 in stage one, they would leave their mark.

STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 90): Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace

Joey Logano climbed to eighth to start the stage after pulling that alternate strategy in the first stage. Before the strategy, he was in 24th.

Stage two saw a little more chaos with weather on the way and halfway looming. John Hunter Nemechek brought out the second caution, spinning in turn four on lap 117.

Bell, Keselowski, Buescher, Logano and Ross Chastain climbed to comprise the top-5 after all taking two tires. They all banked on trying to possibly win the race in a rain-shortened finish with weather looming.

Unfortunately, on lap 127, five laps after the restart, Ty Gibbs spun exiting turn four after bumping into Alex Bowman. That meant the rain and lightning came on lap 137 — just 13 laps shy of halfway and the race becoming official.

After a 1 hour, 21 minute and 20 second-long red flag period and a couple of caution laps, the race went green the rest of the stage.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 185): Bell, Reddick, Larson, Hamlin, Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Buescher, Noah Gragson

At this point, it was Bell’s race to lose. Tyler Reddick wanted him to as he challenged Bell for the win and took the lead on the lap 208 restart after Riley Herbst wrecked in turn two.

Reddick led through Erik Jones wrecking on lap 210 before Christopher Bell fought back on the lap 213 restart, racing side-by-side with Reddick for seven laps before Reddick took it when Chase Elliott spun off of turn four.

That caution on lap 220 changed the whole race. Ryan Blaney and others stayed out while Ross Chastain and others took two tires and Denny Hamlin and others took four tires. The drivers who pitted also took fuel for what would be the last time.

So they thought.

Christopher Bell wouldn’t get to know. He wrecked on lap 229 after losing the air on his nose and smacking the outside wall in turn two.

Another 15 laps later, a similar incident happened to Brad Keselowski after he and Austin Dillon went for the same spot on entry to turn one on lap 244.

Blaney held on to the lead but he wasn’t going to make it on fuel. Ross Chastain pounced, taking the lead on lap 249.

Denny Hamlin stormed through the field and was told he would get to Chastain “with five laps to go.” With about 12 to go, Hamlin was already there. Chastain blocked Hamlin with everything he had until he bobbled in turn one with seven laps to go. Hamlin drove away to a close but still comfortable half-second lead until overtime ensued.

Chastain finished 33rd after the wreck. Hamlin ended up 12th.

On the final lap, Chase Elliott spun exiting turn four and finished 18th. Martin Truex Jr. also spun off the bumper of Daniel Suarez exiting turn two and finished 24th — last driver on the lead lap. Elliott and Truex were 19th and 20th when overtime began.

PLAYOFF BUBBLE

Martin Truex Jr. +143, Ty Gibbs +70, Ross Chastain +66, Chris Buescher +56, Alex Bowman +51, Bubba Wallace -51, Chase Briscoe -78, Kyle Busch -104, Josh Berry -131, Todd Gilliland – 132