Joey Logano sweeps amidst Talladega controversy

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Joey Logano cruised to his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff victory on Sunday, claiming the CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and a sweep of the second round of the Chase playoffs.

“Dreams come true, I guess,” Logano said. “We have to keep this dream rolling. We have a long way to go. We are back to zero going into Martinsville (Speedway), so we need to make something happen in the next three races.”

After botching the new single green-white-checker attempt, Kevin Harvick car didn’t get up to speed, causing a pileup and subsequent caution. This brought another try at the green-white-checkered start. Logano held his spot to become first driver to sweep a three-race round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Logano won all three races in the Contender round of the Chase playoffs.

“I had a good start and the 24 (Jeff Gordon) was pushing me and the plan worked perfectly, but the inside lane started pulling back up,” Logano said. “I saw the lights come on when I was still in the lead, and I thought we had it. It is all about how the timing loops are and the camera to make sure that is what happened. It is such a crazy race. There were such long green-flag runs, you never see that. To pull it into victory lane here at Talladega is so cool.”

Logano became the first Ford driver to win three consecutive races since Rusty Wallace in 1994.

Dale Earnhardt finished second but was eliminated along with Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman.

Brad Keselowski was third and Jeff Gordon fourth.

“We did exactly what we needed to do (to advance in the Chase),” Keselowski said. “We stayed up front when it counted and took care of our race car. The guys gave me a good car. We worked together well with our teammates, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, and at the end, we just finished it up strong. That’s exactly what we needed to do, and I’m really proud of everybody.”

Earnhardt led a race-high 61 laps and restarted alongside Logano for the final laps. He needed a victory to advance to the third round of the Chase.

“I couldn’t believe he (Logano) gave me the bottom (lane on the final restart),” Earnhardt said. “I was like, ‘Man, this is a gift.’ I was going to win the race, for sure, but that caution came out. I’m fine with the new rule. Everybody is going to debate that we were thinking before the race that they made a good change on the green-white-checkered to go to one, and I still that way. Per the rules, we ran second. I can live with that. The No. 22 (Logano) did a great job. He had a hell of a round winning all three races. If he wins the championship, he can look back on this round, here, as the one that set him up.”

Gordon started on the pole and led the second-most laps, Earnhardt moved to the front on lap eight and led 42 laps before a pit road penalty for pit crew members going over the wall too soon during a green-flag pit cycle that started just before lap 120. As a result of the penalty, he dropped back to 29th.

Earnhardt nearly went a lap down before the first yellow flag of the race on lap 131. The caution also helped Martin Truex Jr. who got back on the lead lap after losing the draft and going a lap down earlier in the race.

Earnhardt restarted 16th and was back inside the top-five by 43 laps to go. With just under 40 laps to go, he took the lead.

“I’m proud of what we did today,” Earnhardt said. “We did everything we needed to do, just fell about the width of the splitter. You know how I hate that splitter, so another reason (to hate it).”

Everyone except Greg Biffle cycled through green-flag pit stops with just under 20 laps remaining. After staying out, Biffle had a lead of 38 seconds. That margin was erased by the second yellow flag on lap 183 of the race that was scheduled for 188 laps but went 196. The second caution led to the green-white-checker attempts and, ultimately, the caution that ended the race.