Logano Gets Title Shot At Homestead With Win At Phoenix

Joey Logano and Kyle Busch locked up the last 2 spots in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup, which wraps up the 2016 season with the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway next week. Joining them are Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, who is looking to make history by tying both Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty with 7 Sprint Cup championships. 

SPIN CYCLE

The race started with a spin on the very first lap when the 42 of Kyle Larson and the 6 car of Trevor Bayne go for a spin before they even crossed the start finish line on the very first lap. Bayne also collected Joey Logano in the process and caused some tire damage that the 22 team had to keep a close eye on. After the restart on lap 218, Austin Dillon spins when he got slowed down by a mechanical issue causing the 16 of Greg Biffle and the 48 of Jimmie Johnson to have to check up and caused an acordian style wreck. The 48 received alot of front end damage for which they had to go behind the wall and fix. 

"PULLING UP TO PIT"

The 78 of Martin Truex and the 48 of Jimmie Johnson both received penalties for passing the pace car to get onto pit road. According to Chad Knaus, Johnson made it to the commitment line before breaking the plane of the pace car. NASCAR video shows a different story, so Truex and Johnson both end up serving their penalties (being held for a lap on pit road), putting the 78 at least 2 laps down. He was already 1 lap down for being stuck on pit road when a caution came out. 

(DOG)FIGHT TO THE FINISH

In the last 60 laps the racing action started heating up, and so did Kevin Harvick's 4 car. His team had removed some tape on a previous pit stop and the water temps in his car began to climb. He was running the engine hot for a while, hoping he wouldn't blow his chance (or his engine) trying to get to the front. Logano and Matt Kenseth were in a tie breaker situation, and the 22 had to stay ahead of the 4 car to pick up the tiebreaker in points over the 20 car. Truex ends up hitting the wall hard and then the 96 of Michael McDowell with 4 laps to go, setting up the overtime situation. 

During NASCAR Overtime, the 88 of Alex Bowman, who had been up front and was leading most of the laps all day, got hung out on the restart and spun his tires, causing a bottleneck behind him. When he got going, he threw a block on Kyle Busch that ended up sending Matt Kenseth into the wall, ending his day and his chase title hopes. Kyle Busch made the final 4 going to Homestead by just 6 points, but was unhappy at the fact the he ended up almost wrecking his teammate in the process.

The 4 drivers that did not advance were Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. Kenseth was also hoping to make it to Homestead to compete for his first title shot.