By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer
While Denny Hamlin celebrated his 60th win at Las Vegas and locked himself into the championship round of the playoffs at Phoenix Raceway, Team Penske found itself on the wrong side of fortune.
Both of its playoff contenders, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, entered the weekend hoping to turn the tables just as Logano had done last in 2024 when he stole the win in Vegas to open the Round of 8. But this time, the cards didn’t fall the way they expected.
Starting ninth, Logano ran a steady but unsatisfactory race, finishing Stage 1 in 10th and Stage 2 in ninth before rallying to sixth at the checkered flag. For the 2024 NASCAR Cup Champion, it wasn’t nearly enough, leaving him second-to-last among the eight playoff drivers.
Logano explained, “We just got loose in Stage 3rd… We were here for a shot. We almost had it… Just didn’t get the right position at the backstretch. The No. 48 (Alex Bowman) kind of had an option of going three-wide and pushing the 19 and he pushed him. And that kind of put us in a bad spot.”
When asked about his result, he simply said, “Not good enough.”
Meanwhile, his teammate, Blaney, had an afternoon that ended much earlier. After starting 14th, a flat left-front tire sent his car into the outside wall, ending his race on Lap 30, forcing him to a 38th-place finish. Now sitting 31 points below the cut line, the 2023 Cup champion is in a must-win scenario with two races left in the semi-final round to keep his title hopes alive.
Yet, Blaney refused to throw in the towel: “We’ve got to bounce back … You’ve got to be optimistic. I’m not very happy right now but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race. We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today.”
But the struggle didn’t just succumb to Penske’s camp. While Kyle Larson managed to finish P2, 1.553 seconds behind the No. 11 Toyota, his other two Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) teammates, William Byron and Chase Elliott, found themselves in the danger zone after the race. Byron, who started fifth at Las Vegas but ended up 36th after a brutal late-race crash, sits 15 points below the cutline. And Elliott, who began fourth and finished 18th, is sixth in the standings, trailing by 23 points.
The numbers, however, paint a hint of hope for both camps. Byron has quietly built one of the strongest Talladega performances among the playoff underdogs, carrying a 13.7 average finish in 15 starts, though he’s yet to seal the deal with a win. Elliott isn’t far behind with an average of 14.1 across 19 starts and two Talladega Superspeedway victories to his name.
Addressing the nerves going to the superspeedway, Elliott kept his outlook grounded.
“Yeah, I feel fine. It is what it is. Everybody’s got to go. So you better learn to like it real quick because it will be here soon,” he said about racing at Talladega.
Penske’s drivers, meanwhile, might be counting on history to swing their way. Both Blaney and Logano have defeated the banks of Talladega three times apiece, a track where fortune plays a big role. But if Vegas race and Hamlin’s win proved anything, it’s that even the best-laid plans can go sideways in the blink of an eye.
At Martinsville, Blaney will enter as the fans and insiders’ favorite, having won the last two fall races to bag Championship 4 spots. Logano, too, has reliable stats at the paperclip-shaped short track, with an average finish of 10.7 and one previous win. As for Rick Hendrick’s duo, Elliott and Byron have combined for three victories there, keeping their playoff dreams very much alive.
But with the playoff clock ticking, none of the bottom four contenders can afford to roll the dice one race too late. For them, Talladega won’t just be another Sunday; it’ll be a make-or-break battlefield where survival, patience, and precision could be the difference between chasing a title or packing up early.