Joey Logano left Charlotte Motor Speedway thinking his bid for a 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title was toast. His unique streak of making the Championship 4 every other year for a decade, winning twice, appeared to be at an end.
And then, out of nowhere, Logano was saved by the refs.
The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford was reinstated into the Round of 8 Sunday night when Alex Bowman unexpectedly failed post-race inspection. Bowman's car did not meet minimum weight by at least 17 pounds, erasing what was an 18th-place finish and the points necessary to advance.
Late Monday, Hendrick Motorsports announced they will not appeal, claiming the failure was their mistake.
"NASCAR allows a clear margin to account for the difference in pre- and post-race weight," HMS said in a statement. "After a thorough review by our team and the sanctioning body, we simply did not give ourselves enough margin to meet the post-race requirement.
"Although unintentional, the infraction was avoidable. We are extremely disappointed to lose a playoff spot under these circumstances and apologize to our fans and partners."
Some speculated Bowman's weight problems came from a launch through the final turn of Charlotte's 17-turn road course, damage Bowman had to deal with during the stretch run of the 109-lap race.
"I didn't crash, and that's the hardest I've ever hit anything in my life," Bowman said about the incident. "These things have big blocks underneath them, and when they come down, they just hit that and it's really, really solid … I hit hard enough [I could have broken] a lot of stuff."
Suddenly, Bowman's solid postseason is all for naught; after leading just three races in the regular season, he led at least one lap in all six playoff events. Well behind him was Logano, who fell four points short of advancing. Another win during the regular season (which Logano had at Richmond before Austin Dillon punted him out of the way on the final lap) would have given enough points to get him over the hump.
"You can start looking back at different points in the season to gather four points pretty easily," Logano added. "One race in particular. [Also], Talladega we didn't do a good enough job scoring stage points and that is where a lot of [the failure] lies."
Now, though, everything changes, Logano thrust back in as one of the best drivers in this eight-man field. He joins Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and teammate Ryan Blaney as one of the last four Cup champions still alive. William Byron (three wins), Denny Hamlin (three wins), Christopher Bell (two straight Championship 4s) and this year's regular-season champ, Tyler Reddick, complete a stacked lineup.
Logano's track record stands out here, why many drivers were originally breathing a sigh of relief. He won the pole at this weekend's track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in the spring and finished inside the top 10. Logano also led 84 laps at Martinsville Speedway earlier this year, the Round of 8 finale, en route to sixth.
No one likes to advance on a technicality. But this moment may just tilt the scales of a NASCAR championship as Ford and Logano's Penske organization seeks their third straight.
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Green: Kyle Larson. Out in front at Charlotte was Larson, becoming the first two-time winner in these playoffs with a dominant performance. Leading the final 33 laps, the outcome was never in doubt as he cruised to a 1.5-second win over Bell. Are they now the title favorite?
"I think our No. 1 competitor is ourselves," crew chief Cliff Daniels said after the race. "I think if we do the things that we need to do, our team can execute."
Yellow: Kaulig Racing. Sunday marked just the third time this fledgling organization has put two cars inside the top 10. But both their road course aces, Shane van Gisbergen and defending race champ AJ Allmendinger, expected more. For the 'Dinger, sixth was actually his worst finish since 2021 in a race he typically rises to the top.
Red: Chase Briscoe. The Cinderella story remaining in the playoffs cracked apart with a resounding thud after something broke on Briscoe's car before the halfway point. That ended Stewart-Haas Racing's last ditch bid for a title before closing up shop the end of the season, a disappointing Round of 12 filled with three runs of 24th or worse.
Speeding Ticket: NASCAR Chicanes. Nothing about these man-made chicanes (and the rumble strips surrounding them) inspired confidence on the Roval. Drivers complained about the impact after running over them so much officials made last-minute replacements to the track, putting shorter strips in place before the Cup race.
It didn't work, drivers still very unhappy about the impact to the cars and themselves. And the stop-and-go penalty NASCAR imposed for cutting the corners on these things? It was subjective and inconsistently enforced. Take a look at this side-by-side, as an example, between Bubba Wallace and William Byron. Wallace was penalized while Byron was allowed to continue on.
Oops!
The biggest Roval moment was this wreck shortly after the start of Stage 2. With cars slowing in front for Austin Dillon's spin, Reddick lost control and slammed into the back of Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota.
The resulting damage left Reddick limping around, outside the top 35 and the last car on the lead lap. It took multiple stops and plenty of work to fix the car to the point it was in raceable condition.
"I thought I was going to flip," Reddick said of the incident. "This thing was absolutely destroyed… couldn't go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it."
By the final stage, the team got it right and Reddick started passing cars, utilizing the race's final caution on Lap 82 for fresh tires. Slowly pushing through the pack, he wound up 11th, enough of a cushion to advance under trying circumstances.
"In those moments, it is so easy to lose control," Reddick explained. "Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us that this thing was able to get back through the field and get us to the good side of the cut line."
Co-owners Michael Jordan and Hamlin ran to greet Reddick after the race, impressed by one of the biggest comebacks the Roval has seen to date.
"'Bout got both of us, little shit," Hamlin joked with Reddick when he came up to congratulate him after the race. "Credit to him and the team … gave him a car he was able to come back to the front with but it ain't easy to pass, and he did."