In the end stages of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano looked to be in a fantastic position to collect his first victory – and top-10 finish – of the season, in a situation eerily similar to last October’s event at the 1.5-mile racetrack.
The Middletown, Connecticut native was one of several drivers who made their (hopefully) final pit stop at Lap 188, with intentions to stretch the fuel to the end of the 267-lap contest. That fuel save would require Logano, and several others, to run a whopping 79 laps on a single tank of fuel, seven longer than the driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang stretched his fuel tank to win in the series’ last trip to Las Vegas.
As Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick peeled off the racetrack and onto pit road, abandoning the fuel conservation method, that handed the lead to the three remaining drivers on the fuel-saving strategy – Joey Logano, Josh Berry, and Daniel Suarez.
Logano would ultimately pace the field for a total of 40 laps on Sunday – third-most behind Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric, and Kyle Larson – leading some laps early in the event before inheriting the race lead again in the closing laps.
But, as things often unfold in the world of NASCAR, the strategy completely flipped at the snap of a finger.
That fuel-saving strategy went right out the window at Lap 244, when Noah Gragson had a problem on the racetrack that drew the final caution flag of Sunday’s Pennzoil 400. Now, the finish of Sunday’s event would be coming down to one final trip down pit road, with those attempting the stretching of fuel having the advantage of track position.
However, during the most important pit stop of the race, Logano made a very costly mistake… one that not only cost the Team Penske driver a shot at the victory but also dropkicked the No. 22 Ford Mustang from the race-lead to barely inside the top-20 when the field exited pit road.
While entering his pit box, Logano didn’t properly hit his mark and was pointed towards the inside pit wall even moreso than on a typical stop, making it difficult for his crew to maneuver around the Pennzoil-sponsored machine, ultimately slowing the stop down and costing the team tons of track position.
After leaving the pits, Logano could be heard lamenting himself, saying: “Damn it Sorry. Fuck.”
Sounds like Joey Logano was frustrated with himself after that pit stop. He came in as the race leader but left pit road 20th.
“Damn it! Sorry. Fuck!” pic.twitter.com/iLLSq0GwzS— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 16, 2025
That left Logano to restart somewhere in the middle of the pack, despite having a car that was capable of finishing inside the top five or even winning the race on Sunday. When the checkered flag was displayed, Logano ended up 15th, with nothing to show for what was a solid afternoon.
“Tough way to end the weekend for us,” Logano said. “The last run was shaping up to look a lot like how last fall’s strategy played out for us, but I just made a mistake on pit road that I wish I could have back. Proud of the effort but should’ve had more to show for it.”
After scoring his third NASCAR Cup Series championship last November, Logano has started the season without a single top-10 finish throughout the first five events of the season – the first defending champion to ever start with this much of an early-season slump.
It’s also the first time since 2011 that Logano has gone this deep into a NASCAR Cup Series campaign without a single top-10 result. During that season, Logano collected his first top-10 at Talladega – the eighth race of the NASCAR Cup Series campaign.
Despite everything that has gone wrong for Logano this season, the 34-year-old driver leaves Las Vegas as the driver who has led the most laps on the season, but the finishes just aren’t matching the performance, something that the Team Penske driver will look to change as the series heads to Homestead next weekend.
