NASCAR: Logano opens Chase part two with Kansas win

Joey Logano booked his place in the penultimate round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase with victory at Kansas Speedway as several of his title rivals hit trouble.

Leading 122 of the 267 laps, Logano dominated the latter half of the race, first hitting the front at half-distance with a pass on polesitter Kevin Harvick.

With Harvick removed from winning contention by a green-flag pit stop just before a caution period – the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet driver reporting a puncture over team radio – the only other driver who could rival Logano's pace late in the race was Kyle Larson.

Both Logano and Larson lost track position by opting to change all four tires in their last pit stops, but both quickly returned to the front after the eighth and final restart, with Logano then coming under pressure from Larson's Ganassi Chevrolet in the closing laps. But the Penske Ford driver had enough in hand to secure a fifth win of the season, while Larson missed out on a first Cup victory by just over half a second.

Kyle Busch was left behind at the final restart by Logano and Larson, but had the pace to secure the final spot on the podium ahead of Martin Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman, who led at the final restart before dropping back.

Denny Hamlin also rose from a lowly 25th on the grid to secure a useful seventh place on a day when several key Chase contenders had disasters. The first of these was reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who was eliminated from contention early on in a four-car pile-up that also involved Greg Biffle, Justin Allgaier and Josh Wise.

"It just means we've got to be on our game at Charlotte and Talladega," Johnson told ESPN. "And there's still a lot of racing left. This stuff can happen so we'll see how the other Chasers fare. If I can get taken out today, somebody else can later in this event or at Charlotte so we'll do our best to get back on track and then certainly need W's. I would assume. moving forward."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running in the lead at this stage, but saw his hopes of immediate qualification for the next round of the Chase dashed by a right-front puncture that pitched his Hendrick Chevrolet into the barriers.

Logano's teammate Brad Keselowski suffered a similar fate to Earnhardt while running inside the top five, while Kasey Kahne also ended up in the wall with less than 30 laps to run.

Completing a miserable race for Hendrick Motorsports was Dover winner Jeff Gordon, who struggled with a handling imbalance in the closing stages en route to a 14th-place finish behind fellow title challengers Harvick and Matt Kenseth.