The freak occurrence that made Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford lightning fast at the end of Sunday’s race was the same thing that made his engine explode.
Fortunately for Logano, the engine waited to detonate until after he had crossed the finish line in fourth place.
A windshield tear-off adhered to the grille of Logano’s car after a restart with six laps left and stayed there. With the airflow to the radiator completely cut off, Logano ran what were essentially qualifying laps through the finish.
The downside was that he pushed all the water out of the cooling system and sent the temperatures skyrocketing. But Logano still had enough speed at the end to pass Kevin Harvick for fourth on the final lap. As he approached the finish line, white smoke began to billow from the engine.
“We hit a piece of debris with about five to go,” Logano said. “I say ‘piece,’ but it was huge. I think it was a tear-off, and we got really hot, but the car started handling really good when it was on there, and we got another spot because of it.
“We blew up going into Turn 3 and just had a big smoke screen behind me, but I was able to get it across.”
The top-five finish left Logano third in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, 10 points behind teammate and race-winner Brad Keselowski. After the third race of the Chase, at Dover, at least nine drivers will advance to the next elimination round by virtue of their respective positions in the standings.
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