Meanwhile, Ross Chastain tried to slam his way into the playoffs, but failed.
While Shane van Gisbergen was gliding, Ross Chastain was sliding.
There wasn’t a battle at the front late Sunday afternoon in the Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as Van Gisbergen, NASCAR’s new Master of the Universe in the road-course category, scored a ridiculously easy 15.16-second victory.
Meanwhile, Joey Logano and Chastain were in a battle for survival as the gate open to the Cup Series round of eight was rapidly closing. Over the final 10 laps, Logano and Chastain danced around the cutline, with the final of eight playoff spots waiting as the reward.
In the end, Logano prevailed. And Chastain ended his race in extraordinary style, slamming into Denny Hamlin, a non-combatant in this fracas, and rolling across the finish line in reverse. Logano won the eighth playoff position by four points.
Chastain’s frantic late-race charge was self-inflicted. He made two major mistakes on or around pit road, first firing past pit exit after a stop on lap 27, losing positions while he redirected his car, and later speeding while leaving the pits on lap 88, drawing a pass-through penalty.
Chastain needed to finish four positions in front of Logano to advance in the playoffs. Logano was 20th, Chastain 21stafter the last-lap drama and after Chastain’s tire wear cost him spots in the closing miles.
On pit road after the race, Chastain sat for a few minutes inside his car, gathering his emotions. Then he talked about a day sprinkled with failures.
“I just completely unraveled our day,” Chastain said. “It’s not acceptable. Just completely unacceptable. Justin Marks (team owner) hired me to carry this 1 car and drive it, to be the leader, and I just completely unraveled our day.
“It’s really simple. It’s terrible to get to this level and not perform. When you watch and learn and study for half your life to get here and fail, it’s a terrible feeling right now.”
Marks, who also owns the Chevrolet Van Gisbergen drove to victory Sunday, said the pit road mistakes doomed what should have been a successful run by the 1. “We shouldn’t have been in that position at the end,” he said. “We need to eliminate the mistakes we made today.”
Team members were in Logano’s ear via radio over the final laps, keeping him updated on his status versus that of Chastain.
“Everybody was telling me how close it was going to be there,” Logano said. I knew it was within a point there, and I knew we were going to be tied there at the end and Ross was going to do whatever he had to do to make it happen.
“It’s the drama of the playoffs. If you want drama, the playoffs bring it every time. What an entertaining finish there. To come down to, like I said, a tie there basically at the end before the [Chastain-Hamlin] wreck.”
Crew chief Paul Wolfe called Logano to the pits for fresh tires for the final run, a move that temporarily put Chastain up 10 points in the chase for the last playoff spot. But, on a day when tire wear was unexpectedly high, the stop was a major plus.
“I’m proud of Paul Wolfe,” Logano said. “He made some really hard calls today. Three-stopping the end there. That was kind of an audible because our [tire] fall-off was a little bit too much. Making that call there at the end was ultimately what kept us in the game with just a few left, so that’s a championship performance from the team.”
Category: General Sports
