JOEY LOGANO WINS NASCAR PLAYOFF OPENER AT ATLANTA TO ADVANCE TO SECOND ROUND

Joey Logano, center, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)ASSOCIATED PRESSLess

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — One of the first things Joey Logano said after winning NASCAR's playoff opener was that the postseason is his time of the year.

And, in 10 initial playoff appearances, he typically slid his way through the rounds, winning two Cup titles and never finishing lower than eighth in the standings.

Then came last year when Logano, as the reigning Cup champion, was eliminated from the 16-driver field in the very first round for the first time in his career. He dreaded going to the track for the remainder of the season even as Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney went on to win the championship.

There will be no stumble this year, not after an overtime victory Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway gave Logano an automatic berth into the second round of the playoffs.

“That’s how we start the playoffs, boys!” Logano shouted. “When it is playoff time, it is our time.”

Logano won the 11th race of the season to end in overtime — a tie for the record set in the 2017 season. He's trying to become the only active three-time Cup champion in the series. Kyle Busch, who did not make the playoffs, is the only other driver with two Cup titles.

“We've been able to level up when we need to level up and be able to fire off the first race of the playoffs and with a statement is key, right?” Logano said.

Ryan Blaney was initially listed in second for a 1-2 sweep for Team Penske and Ford. Blaney lined up behind Logano and gave him the pushes he needed to deny Daniel Suarez the victory.

But after a review, Suarez was moved to second and Blaney dropped to third. Team owner Roger Penske was not at the race because the Detroit resident was scheduled to attend the Lions' NFL home opener later Sunday.

Suarez, who won the closest three-wide finish in NASCAR history here in February, had his own help from Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain. The two-lap overtime sprint to the finish began with Logano and Suarez lined up side-by-side on the front row, each with their teammate behind them for the push to the front.

Blaney got Logano out first, but Chastain remained locked onto the bumper of Suarez's Chevrolet and the two dueled it out until Blaney used a final push to get his Penske teammate the win.

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Suarez, who gained two spots in the standings to ninth with his runner-up finish, was disappointed to come up short.

“No, definitely not satisfied. I am happy with it, but not satisfied," he said. “I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it. Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough. But, that is part of racing, right?”

Christopher Bell in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing finished fourth, and Alex Bowman in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports was fifth. Regular-season champion Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing was sixth and followed by Busch of Richard Childress Racing, Chase Elliott of Hendrick, William Byron of Hendrick and Austin Cindric of Penske. Only two Toyotas — Bell and Reddick — finished inside the top 10.

Larson crashes early

Larson running third in the closing laps of the first stage when his car inexplicably shot into the outside wall.

“I don't know if I blew a tire or what,” Larson radioed.

As the No. 5 Chevrolet shot back down the track, Larson was hit in the rear by fellow playoff driver Chase Briscoe. That contact caused damage to Briscoe's Ford.

The incident ended the race for both drivers.

Larson was the points leader at the start of Sunday before his crash, which he called one of the hardest hits of his career and it came without any warning.

“No, not at all. Never. Not once," Larson said. “It just caught me way off guard. I was never once loose, even in that corner. And then, it just started stepping out. I corrected it and overcorrected it, I guess. I feel fine. Thankfully, everything held up great in the car.”

His 37th-place finish dropped him all the way to 10th in the standings; four drivers will be cut from the field after the Sept. 21 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Briscoe, who won last week's regular-season finale to make the playoff field, was ranked 13th out of 16 at the start of the race. He's now last in the standings after finishing last in the race.

“That’s NASCAR — you can be on top one week and you can be at the very bottom of the mountain the next week," said Briscoe, who added he was fortunate not to be injured. "It was a big hit. One of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time. My private area hurt pretty bad at first, just when I hit it was a big hit, but, other than that, I’m totally good.

My head, everything feels fine. I’m glad my ankles didn’t get messed up. The brake pedal and everything went through the floorboard, so I’m thankful that I’m alright, for sure.”

Mixed playoff day

It was a huge points day for Bowman, who opened the week defending his job in the No. 48 for Hendrick Motorsports. His performance has been off since an injury last season and Bowman needed a win at Chicago to earn a spot in the playoff field.

He began the playoffs ranked 12th and jumped all the way to sixth by finishing fifth at Atlanta.

It was the exact opposite for Denny Hamlin, who opened the day ranked sixth but had a horrible weekend in Atlanta that ended with a last-lap crash and a 23rd-place finish. He dropped to 11th in the standings and is only three points above the cutoff line.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs, who led 37 laps, faded to 17th and is the final driver above the cutline with a one-point margin.

The four drivers below the cutline and in danger of elimination are Brad Keselowski, Harrison Burton, Martin Truex Jr., and Briscoe.

Up next

The road course in Watkins Glen, New York, makes its debut in the 10-race playoff schedule next Sunday. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott, Larson and William Byron have combined to win the last five races at the track dating to 2018 when Watkins Glen was part of the regular-season schedule.

- Jenna Fryer

MJ FOR THE WIN: REDDICK PULLS OFF A TALLADEGA BUZZER-BEATER FOR MICHAEL JORDAN

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 TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — So much for Michael Jordan being a jinx at the race track.

The Basketball Hall of Famer celebrated as if he was still on the court after Tyler Reddick stole a NASCAR Cup victory at Talladega Superspeedway, speeding across the line after front-runner Michael McDowell — swerving back and forth in a desperate bid to hold the lead — crashed with the finish line in sight.

It was another wild Talladega finish — and marked the first time that Jordan, co-owner of the 23XI Racing along with Denny Hamlin, has been at the track to witness a victory for one of his drivers.

“Denny keeps saying I was bad luck when I come to the track, and today we proved him wrong,” a beaming Jordan said in Victory Lane. “I’m very happy to be here to see it. Everybody tells me when we win we can have a good celebration, but this is the first time I’ve been here.”

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McDowell, the pole-sitter, dominated the closing laps and was in position to give Ford its much-needed first victory of the year. But his desperate efforts to block Keselowski, another Ford driver, wound up costing them both.

McDowell spun out, Keselowski had to check up and Reddick sped by to claim his sixth career Cup victory by 0.208 seconds.

A pile of cars behind them were taken out, as well. Corey LaJoie's No. 7 machine slid across the finish line on its side, pinned against the wall in front of the massive grandstands.

Reddick climbed out of his No. 45 car and scurried up the fence like Spider-Man.

“Was that crazy, guys?” he screamed to the fans. “That was chaos. That’s Talladega for you.”

For Jordan, it sparked memories of his former life, the one where he won six NBA championships and hit countless buzzer-beaters.

Yet make no mistake: Jordan's passion these days is stock car racing.

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“To me, this is like an NBA playoff game," the 61-year-old said. “For us to win a big race like this, it means so much to me. I’m all in. I love it. It replaces a lot of the competitiveness that I had in basketball. But this is even worse, because I have no control. If I was playing basketball, I’d have total control. But I have no control, so I live vicariously through the drivers, crew chiefs and everybody.”

Keselowski settled for the runner-up spot, failing again to pick up his first win since he triumphed three years ago at this 2.66-mile trioval in east Alabama.

“We went to make a move and Michael covered it,” Keselowski said. “We went the other way and had nowhere to go when Michael came back down. It's just the way this stuff goes.”

McDowell was apologetic to Keselowski and everyone who crashed behind him.

“He pushed me out. I drove back to him and was able to get in front of him that very first time. But when I came back down, I barely wasn't clear,” McDowell said. “It's Talladega. You're going for it, trying to get a win. We just came up short and took a lot of guys out with me."

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Reddick's victory redeemed a botched strategy that knocked out a bunch of Toyota contenders, including Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

All three Toyota teams pitted in tandem with 37 laps to go, going with a strategy that would've allowed them to push the pace on the rest of the fuel-saving field — with an idea of drafting all the way to the front for the checkered flag.

Unfortunately, they couldn't keep their cars straight.

Just four laps later, with the Toyota train running at a blistering, single-file pace and chasing down the lead pack, John Hunter Nemechek appeared to get into the bumper of Bubba Wallace, who is Reddick's teammate at 23XI. Wallace then clipped Erik Jones, which sent him smashing hard into the outside wall.

Nemechek then slid down the track and took out Hamlin, as well.

“We had a plan,” Wallace said. “We just didn't execute it as well as we should have. I hate it. It doesn't make us look good at all.”

Jones took the brunt of the blow, a crash that would've been much worse without the sturdy cars and foamy barriers.

He was initially examined and released from the infield care center, saying “I’m a little sore, but I’m all right." But Jones' team announced after the race that he was transported to a hospital for further observation, providing no details on the nature of his injuries.

Reddick was at the front of the pack and avoided the crash.

In the end, he was able to celebrate an improbable win.

Always one to deliver a well-timed verbal jab, Jordan couldn't resist taking a poke at his co-owner, who was headed for the exits until he realized Reddick had won.

“Actually. he did a good job of wrecking,” Jordan said of Hamlin, “so we could get up front. That was actually pretty good.”

CLEAN RACING

Unlike the wacky finish, the first two stages were caution-free — the first time that’s happened at Talladega since the stage system was instituted in 2017. Many drivers were focused on saving fuel and there weren’t many bold moves.

Finally, on lap 132, with the cars three-wide and tightly bunched in the middle of a huge train, the first occurred.

Justin Haley got a bump from behind and went spinning into Christopher Bell, whose car sustained heavy damage that left him with a last-place finish.

IMPRESSIVE KIWI

Shane Van Gisbergen turned in a strong run in the first oval race of his burgeoning NASCAR Cup career.

The stunning winner of the Chicago street race in his Cup debut last summer, Van Gisbergen showed the depth of his talent by leading laps and staying out of trouble at the harrowing 2.66-mile trioval until the very end.

Unfortunately for the 34-year-old from New Zealand, he got caught up in the final melee and didn't make it across the line. He finished 27th.

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STARTING AT THE BACK

Season points leader Kyle Larson started the race with a huge disadvantage after his team was penalized for altering the roof rails on his No. 5 car on the way to the qualifying line Saturday.

Larson, who had won three straight poles, was barred from qualifying, forced to start from the back of the field and ordered to do a drive-through penalty on the opening lap. He was least a half-lap behind the field by the time he got up to speed and, without anyone to draft with, was caught by the leaders on the 12th lap.

NASCAR also ejected Larson’s car chief, Jesse Saunders, from the speedway.

Larson was able to work his way back into the mix but he wasn't a contender at the end. He finished 20th.

UP NEXT

The Cup series heads next Sunday to Dover Motor Speedway, where Martin Truex Jr. won the race a year ago.

- PAUL NEWBERRY