Joey Logano has three championships in the NASCAR Cup Series but none in the Chase system that has returned this season .
The Team Penske driver is embracing the challenge of proving he can win a title in the format that puts a greater emphasis on banking consistently strong finishes.
Do I have a little chip on my shoulder? Thats a clear yes, Logano said with a chuckle after his victory Saturday at Richmond Raceway . So much so that our team slogan is 4 the haters. Thats where were at. Thats good extra motivation.
With an impressive surge from 20th to ninth in the standings over the past six races, Logano has flipped the narrative on the elimination playoffs that were in place for 12 years.
From 2014-25, the waning races of NASCARs regular season typically were a scramble to make the championship field as a win earned a berth.
But that safety valve has disappeared in the Chase, which will rely entirely on points to set the 16-driver field.
The top 16 in the provisional Chase have been unchanged for the past four races, and the grid for the 10-race title run likely will remain the same at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.
Shane van Gisbergen holds the 16th and final spot by 50 points over Ryan Preece, who dropped 21 points further below the Chase cutline with a 17th-place finish at Richmond.
The next three drivers ranked outside the Chase Ross Chastain (12th at Richmond), Brad Keselowski (26th) and Erik Jones (27th) also lost ground, diluting the potential drama of a surprise qualifier.
The number of guys that feel the pressure of making the Chase is probably less, said Christopher Bell, who is among seven drivers who have clinched Chase spots. In years past, everybody on the outside still had an opportunity to get in, and now its kind of dwindled to a couple guys fighting for the spots.
Theres been more intrigue toward the top half of the standings particularly the progress of the Team Penske trio.
As Logano continued his push up the points ladder, teammate Ryan Blaney moved past Ty Gibbs into second in the standings at Richmond. Austin Cindric, Penskes third driver, shored up his title eligibility with a career-best third on a short track to move up a spot to 15th in the points.
Denny Hamlin has a 115-point lead on Blaney and likely will clinch the Chases top seed Sunday at New Hampshire, which will be followed by the Aug. 29 regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
The standings then will be reset for the Chase, which begins Sept. 6 at Darlington Raceway with the championship leader ahead by 25 points. Second will start 10 points ahead of third, and the remaining 14 spots will be separated by five-point increments.
Getting to second is top of mind because every point is going to matter, Blaney said.
There also is an emphasis on finishing the regular season in the top half of the points standings.
Racing Insights, a NASCAR analytics firm, ran more than 25,000 computer simulations of Chase outcomes, and the champion started in the top six 85% of the time.
Logano, who made the Chase only once while racing under the system in his first five Cup seasons from 2009-13, is 36 points from sixth-ranked Chase Elliott.
Weve been able to switch our goals from making the Chase to winning the championship, said Logano, whose No. 22 Ford was ranked 17th before winning two of the past four races. Its quite the turnaround. I look at the last month and a half, weve been capable of winning all of them.
Logano could be among several more drivers who lock into the championship Sunday with a solid result at New Hampshire.
Crew chief Paul Wolfe credited Logano with buoying morale when the team notched only two top-five finishes in the first half of the season.
Im proud of everyone sticking together, Logano said. There are times you see teams break, and it doesnt take much longer running the way we were until something probably was going to break. Weve been able to make quite the recovery to have a legit shot at the championship.
Larson double duty
After finishing sixth at Richmond, Kyle Larson immediately flew to Iowa and scored his fourth victory in the Knoxville Nationals, a prestigious sprint car event. Larson qualified on the pole position last week by winning a preliminary race at the renowned dirt track in Knoxville, Iowa.
He had expected to miss Saturdays main event because of the schedule conflict with Richmond, but a rain delay at Knoxville Raceway allowed the two-time Cup Series champion to arrive in time to lead all 50 laps. Its extremely surreal just to talk about the day and the range of emotions, Larson said.
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乔伊·洛加诺（Joey Logano）曾三次夺得纳斯卡杯系列赛冠军，但本赛季回归的追逐赛（Chase）体系中，他还未曾夺冠。
潘世奇车队车手正积极迎接挑战，力求证明自己能在更注重持续稳定发挥的赛制中夺冠。
“我是不是有点不服输？答案显然是肯定的。”洛加诺（Logano）在周六里士满赛道夺冠后笑着说道，“我们甚至把团队口号定为‘为黑粉而战’。这就是我们的态度，这种情绪反而成了额外的动力。”
在过去六场比赛中，洛加诺从积分榜第20位飙升至第9位，这一惊人表现彻底扭转了延续12年的淘汰制季后赛叙事。
2014至2025年间，NASCAR常规赛季末段的比赛往往成为车手争夺锦标赛入场券的混战——一场胜利即可锁定晋级席位。
但这一安全阀机制已在追逐赛中取消，届时将完全依靠积分来确定16名车手的参赛资格。
过去四站比赛中，临时积分榜前16名车手名单始终未变；本周末在新罕布什尔州赛车场举行的十强冠军争夺赛中，发车阵容很可能继续保持原班人马。
肖恩·范·吉斯伯根以50分的优势占据第16位也是最后一个晋级席位，而瑞安·普里斯因在里士满站以第17名完赛，积分进一步落后21分，跌至追逐赛晋级线以下。
排名在季后赛圈外的三位车手——罗斯·查斯坦（里士满站第12名）、布拉德·凯瑟洛夫斯基（第26名）和埃里克·琼斯（第27名）——同样表现不佳，这降低了可能出现黑马晋级者的戏剧性悬念。
“现在感受到晋级追逐赛压力的车手可能更少了，”克里斯托弗·贝尔说道，他是已锁定追逐赛资格的七名车手之一。“往年，外围车手仍有晋级机会，如今却缩减到只剩几位车手在争夺席位。”
积分榜上半区的竞争愈发引人入胜——尤其是潘世奇车队三人组的进展。
随着洛加诺在积分榜上持续攀升，其队友瑞安·布莱尼在里士满站超越泰·吉布斯，升至积分榜第二位。彭斯车队第三车手奥斯汀·辛德里克在短道赛中取得职业生涯最佳的第三名，巩固了其冠军争夺资格，积分排名也上升一位至第15名。
丹尼·哈姆林目前领先布莱尼115分，极有可能在本周日新罕布什尔站的比赛中锁定季后赛头号种子席位。随后，8月29日将在戴通纳国际赛道举行常规赛收官战。
积分榜将在季后赛（Chase）开始前重置。9月6日，季后赛将于达灵顿赛道揭幕，届时冠军领跑者将拥有25分的领先优势。第二名选手将以10分优势领先第三名，其余14个名次之间则保持5分的分差梯度。
布莱尼表示：“当前的首要目标是争取第二名，因为每一分都至关重要。”
另一个重点是在积分榜上半区结束常规赛季。
纳斯卡数据分析公司Racing Insights对追逐赛结果进行了超过2.5万次计算机模拟，结果显示冠军有85%的概率从前六名选手中产生。
洛加诺在2009至2013年前五个杯赛赛季中仅有一次晋级季后赛（Chase），目前他落后排名第六的蔡斯·埃利奥特36分。
洛加诺（Logano）表示：\"我们的目标已从晋级季后赛转变为争夺总冠军，这真是巨大的转变。回顾过去一个半月，我们完全有实力赢下所有比赛。\"他驾驶的22号福特赛车此前排名第17位，但在最近四场比赛中赢下两场。
洛加诺（Logano）有望成为本周日在新罕布什尔州站取得佳绩、从而锁定冠军席位的多位车手之一。
车队主管保罗·沃尔夫（Paul Wolfe）称赞乔伊·洛加诺（Joey Logano）在上半赛季仅取得两次前五名成绩时提振了团队士气。
“我为所有人团结一心感到骄傲，”洛加诺说道。“有时你会看到团队分崩离析，而像我们这样坚持下去，用不了多久可能就会出现问题。但我们成功实现了相当程度的复苏，现在有机会真正冲击冠军。”
拉尔森身兼双职
在里士满站获得第六名后，凯尔·拉森（Kyle Larson）立即飞赴爱荷华州，并在著名的短程赛车赛事诺克斯维尔全国赛中斩获个人第四冠。上周，拉森通过在爱荷华州诺克斯维尔知名泥地赛道赢得预选赛，成功锁定正赛杆位。
由于与里士满站的赛程冲突，他原本预计会错过周六的正赛。但诺克斯维尔赛道因雨延迟，使得这位两届杯赛冠军得主得以及时赶到，并全程领跑50圈。拉尔森表示：“光是谈论这一天的经历和复杂情绪，就让人感到极度不真实。”
