Joey Logano is headed to the Championship 4 yet again.
The Team Penske driver won the Round of 8 opener Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading the final six laps after a bold move to stretch the final run on fuel.
Logano, 34, is the first driver to qualify for the title race this year — and he continues his streak of making the finale in every even-numbered year since 2014. It will be his sixth Championship 4 appearance with his two titles coming in 2018 and 2022.
Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, William Byron and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-five behind Logano.
For Logano, making the Championship 4 this year was especially improbable. He appeared to be eliminated from the playoffs last week until Bowman was disqualified for failing post-race inspection. That gave the No. 22 team a second life, and now they will race for another title.
Bell dominated the race, leading 155 laps and winning Stage 2. He made a charge over the final stint to finish second behind Logano despite making an extra pit stop, but it just wasn’t enough.
Playoff drivers had trouble throughout the race, but no one had it worse than Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott. After Reddick won Stage 1, the two drivers collided early in Stage 2 when Martin Truex Jr. drifted up the track to spoil both of their races. Reddick retired to the garage and finished 35th, while Elliott limped around to finish 37 laps down in 33rd.
Blaney, Hamlin and Larson, three of the presumptive championship favorites, also had issues. The defending champion started last after crashing in practice on Saturday, then was involved in the aftermath of Reddick and Elliott’s incident. He finished eight laps down in 32nd.
Hamlin had several pit road miscues, but stretched his fuel late to secure a decent eighth-place finish. Larson, meanwhile, went two laps down due to pit road problems and had a similar recovery to finish 11th.
The Cup Series will head to Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC) for the second of three races in the Round of 8. While Bell is locked into the Championship 4, there are still seven playoff contenders seeking to claim the final three spots.
