TALLADEGA, Ala. — Workforce Penske’s championship hopes might finish subsequent weekend at Martinsville. In the event that they do, the ultimate laps of Sunday’s race at Talladega will likely be why.
Workforce Penske, which has received the previous three Cup titles with Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, faces a must-win state of affairs at Martinsville to have both driver contend for a title Nov. 2 at Phoenix.
“It sucks (that) you recognize one in every of your guys isn’t going to switch for positive,” Travis Geisler, competitors director for Workforce Penske, stated Sunday night time. “We’ve received to determine the way to get one in every of them by.”
Chase Briscoe’s Talladega victory made him the second Joe Gibbs Racing driver to safe a spot within the Championship 4, becoming a member of Denny Hamlin. Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson maintain the ultimate two switch spots.
Logano, the reigning sequence champion, is 38 factors beneath the cutline and Blaney is 47 coming into subsequent weekend’s elimination race at Martinsville on NBC and Peacock.
Logano: Talladega ‘a battle all through the day’
Joey Logano displays on the “battle” at Talladega that leaves him pissed off after being unable to capitalize on what was a stable day all issues thought-about.
“Personally I’d like to not see a Penske automotive get in there,” Briscoe stated of the title race, noting Penske’s dominance there.
Briscoe then added: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Penske automotive, one other Hendrick automotive. Whoever it’s, they’re going to be tremendous arduous to beat. All three organizations which are left are the three elite groups. You’re going to be preventing arduous for it irrespective of who it’s.”
Logano and Blaney are thus far again within the factors after Logano completed sixteenth and Blaney was twenty third at Talladega.
It’s the primary superspeedway victory for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
They have been in command of Sunday’s race till a restart 17 laps from the scheduled distance.
Blaney led the within lane with Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece behind.
Shortly after the restart the within line wasn’t as dominant and vehicles on the surface line started to maneuver forward. Blaney dropped to fourth and Logano sixth on Lap 176 on 193. By Lap 180, Blaney was seventh and Logano ninth. By Lap 183, Blaney had dropped to seventeenth and Logano was twenty fifth.
Joe Gibbs Racing has clinched half of the Championship 4 discipline.
“The automotive behind me was saving fuel,” Logano stated of Keselowski in explaining why the underside line misplaced floor to vehicles on the surface lane. “That doesn’t assist. That kills the entire backside lane. Automobiles are flattening in entrance of us. We simply maintain getting demoted from the primary two vehicles to 3rd in line, fourth in line after which subsequent factor you recognize we’re all within the again.”
Keselowski stated after the race: “We got here right down to that next-to-last restart and it simply didn’t come collectively.”
Jeremy Bullins, crew chief for Keselowski, instructed NBC Sports activities that Keselowski was not saving fuel in these last laps.
Regardless of the trigger, the end result was that Blaney, Logano and people on the within line fell again within the pack.
Blaney ‘simply pale’ close to finish at Talladega
Ryan Blaney was happy with the place he and his staff put themselves in, however the automotive “simply pale” within the closing laps of the race that places him in a must-win state of affairs heading to Martinsville.
So now the main target turns to Martinsville and what’s at stake for Blaney and Logano.
Blaney has received the Martinsville playoff race the previous two years to achieve the title race however admits a three-peat received’t be straightforward.
“So what, we’ve received there twice,” Blaney stated on pit highway shortly after climbing from his automotive. “You by no means know what’s going to occur yr after yr. Individuals have been saying, ‘Oh, Blaney goes to win Martinsville straightforward. It’s (expletive). It’s arduous. I don’t know what pace we’re going to have.
“It’s good that we’ve received there a few instances, however we’ve received to dig down deep for this one.”
