Logano takes Kansas, becomes first two-time winner in Chase

Joey Logano picked up his fifth win of the season and his second of the Chase for the Sprint Cup at Kansas on Sunday. He will now advance to the Eliminator round, which begins in Martinsville, Virginia on October 26, no matter what happens to him at Charlotte and Talladega in the next two weeks. Logano is now tied with Penske teammate Brad Keselowski at five wins, the most of any driver who has competed in a Cup race this year, and they have combined to win four of the last five races. The Penske duo both advanced to the Challenger round of the Chase with wins at Chicagoland and New Hampshire.

Keselowski, however, was among the unlucky ones during the race. On lap 161 of the 267-lap, 400-mile race, he had a tire going down and spun in turn 2. This could be regarded as an opposite of Chicagoland three weeks ago, where Keselowski took the checkered flag but Logano's engine blew on the final lap, although he still pulled off a fifth-place finish. Also, all four Hendrick Motorsports cars interestingly ran into trouble. Jimmie Johnson, who spun during qualifying on Friday, got collected in a crash on lap 86 with eliminated Chaser Greg Biffle, Josh Wise and Justin Allgaier. 26 laps later, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had one of the best cars during practice and qualifying, had a tire issue similar to the one Keselowski had later, and hit the turn 4 wall while leading. This was the first race in which Earnhardt had led since Michigan on August 17, making for a disappointing day for the series' most popular driver. Jeff Gordon, last week's winner at Dover, and Kasey Kahne later had issues with their cars, with Kahne bringing out a potentially unneeded caution for minor contact with the backstretch wall.

There were eight cautions, the same amount as in the first race of the season at the track in May, and one fewer than Saturday's 300-mile Nationwide Series race. All but one were for crashes and spins. The Chase grid once again looks different than before the race today, with Ryan Newman in particular gaining several spots, and Earnhardt and Johnson down to the last two positions, 11th and 12th. Next up is the 500-mile race at Charlotte next Saturday, the only night race of the Chase, and then the Challenger round finale at Talladega on October 19.