Joey Logano wins third straight at Talladega

“Even over Daytona, I think we can go to Talladega and do the job”.

“I felt like, per the rule book, it sorted out and I finished second”, Earnhardt said.

Not to be confused with what everyone thought was the first attempt at the only green-white-checkered finish when NASCAR officials ruled that pack leaders Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had not reached the start-and-finish line, negating that effort. “(He) knew he was blowing up and told everybody he was going to stay in his lane”, said Matt Kenseth, who finished 26th and was eliminated from the Chase. Team-mate Kenseth was similarly condemning: “It wasn’t really racing”. “It’s a great day for Hendrick Motorsports”.

Earnhardt, meanwhile, needed to win the race to advance to the next round and was in good position to do so.

Four drivers will be cut from the Chase field following the race.

The issues between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano are only getting worse. He held the lead until Lap 81 when he made his second green flag pit stop.

“It was one of those days where everything went well until the very end, until the bottom fell out on those last couple of restarts when [the car] cooled off. It has a broken exhaust pipe or something”. Then the race was halted after the second wreck, which happened after the caution light came on. He earned enough points to advance to the Eliminator round of the Chase and should be considered a strong contender to win at Martinsville Speedway next week. Earnhardt has six career victories at Talladega, including this season’s spring race. “So I can feel good about that”. “We got momentum and we’re relaxed”. “That would guarantee us in”. Harvick is a really good driver.

“We’re in a decent position, not quite as hectic as last season, but certainly not flawless either by any means”, Keselowski said. “Until we see anything different, we’ll be confident”.

And although drivers generally seem to support the change, a few aren’t convinced it will change how they race at the end, knowing the race will end quickly. We were fighting him hard. “I think he knows the limits of his vehicle and where it’s at, so that’s why I think it was intentional.” . “The way that impound qualifying works you are more focused on the race and whatever it gives you in qualifying is what you get”. Real proud of this team and the way that everybody has come together here in the Chase.

He had a far more scathing take on Twitter after he was eliminated from the Chase. “We got shuffled out and I didn’t know if I could get back up there”. “It’s just going to be a 500 mile battle”.

Two of the eliminated Chasers were also heavily critical, with Hamlin tweeting: ‘What a joke we have a auto with no motor wreck the field to end the race. “I feel like no matter the rules, when the race is over, I can live with the result as long as everyone else is going by the same rules”. They are now the lowest four drivers in the standings. It takes a half of one percent to be that much better than the next guy to be in that group.

“I hate that we have this silly [Chase] system that makes us have to be out here playing games instead of racing. We will be just fine”.

The chaos came in Talladega, as it always does. I clawed and clawed and clawed and got back to the top three, finally into second. It was his third straight win in the three-race stretch of the second round of the Chase.

6 Martin Truex Jr.

The final round of the Chase begins next weekend at Martinsville.