“No team works better together than Team Penske,” Joey Logano proudly declared after his Las Vegas showdown. The cards were in place for the No. 22 Ford team, all they had to do was play them. Taking a page out of Logano’s iconic Nashville book, the crew members in his team chose the fuel strategy that they have tried and tested. And accordingly, Lady Luck beamed in their favor and Logano shocked the playoff field with his glory.

The result baffled his rivals – only last week Joey Logano was outside the playoffs for about three hours. Not only did he slip back into the grid, but he also stormed off with the first of four NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 berths. His uphill climb to the victory in Sin City was aided by Team Penske’s secret recipe for success – it beat the field with solid teamwork.

Joey Logano had the key to success

During the Ally 400 race in July, the No. 22 crew chief Paul Wolfe got a jaw-dropping surprise. Joey Logano was trying to finish the final 110 laps of the Nashville race on a 20-gallon tank of fuel. Wolfe expected him to go only 80, but the record five overtimes and 31 extra laps twisted the plot further. Yet Logano’s 22 Ford did not sputter until after crossing the finish line. Noting that stroke of luck, Wolfe and the 22 crew decided to implement the same strategy at the South Point 400 race. Although this time it was more calculated and avoided the nail-biting Nashville situation, their win exemplified one thing – teamwork.

Joey Logano emphasized this in a post-race interview. He explained the closing laps where he toppled Daniel Suarez while his team fed him confidence. “I was just focused on the information I was being fed…I knew I couldn’t waste time with Suarez, I had to get by him as soon as I got to him…I felt in good shape, and I only felt that because of what Coleman was telling me up there… As long as you don’t get enough traffic friction by passing cars and not doing it efficiently, you’re gonna be able to stay ahead there. So the pace was starting to equal out as his tires are wearing…That information made me feel pretty confident. I know Paul well enough now…He felt pretty confident enough that we’re gonna make it on gas. They kind of said what we’re doing was working about 25-30 laps to go.”

The entire 22 crew worked diligently to fetch Joey Logano‘s fourth Las Vegas victory that ties Jimmie Johnson for the most all-time. Logano heaped praises on his team: “I’m going off of what they tell me…It takes the whole team to do it. Our gas man, Nick Hensley, has so much experience on the racetrack. He’s so smart as a gasman, he totally gets it. So he did a good job at packing it when it mattered. Our engineers Shaggy and Joe, Paul on the box – they do a good job at understanding what we’re gonna need to make it and how to efficiently tell me what to do.”

Joey Logano was not the only driver to benefit from a fuel mileage strategy in Las Vegas.

Scraping through with past notes

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When Joey Logano was executing his Nashville spectacle earlier this year, his rivals were dumbfounded. “Cross your fingers, say a prayer, and hope there’s just enough gas in it” – that was the razor-thin guarantee Logano relied on. Besides Team Penske‘s Paul Wolfe, other crew chiefs were also scratching their heads at why Logano’s tank was not bone-dry. This included Chris Gabehart who decided with Denny Hamlin to run the No. 11 Toyota till the last drop of fuel. And it almost worked – Hamlin got painstakingly close to the win before another caution came out. Eventually, he pitted and finished 12th, and remarked: “I’m surprised we lasted that many (overtimes), honestly.” Joe Gibbs Racing referred to their Nashville notes for Las Vegas.

After enduring a challenging day on pit road, Gabehart launched Hamlin into a fuel mileage game similar to Logano’s. Eventually, Hamlin could salvage an 8th-place finish, far from what he expected from the strategy. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver dejectedly reflected on the day, while crediting Gabehart for his strategy. “I thought (crew chief) Chris (Gabehart) did a great job trying to get some sort of finish. Once we lost the track position early, he was doing everything he could to try to get it back through some alternate strategy. It goes long there, we fall back to the back. Just part of it. Certainly we’re not running quite as strong as what we were earlier in the year. We’re definitely not as clean execution-wise as what we were. Just got to clean it up, go to Homestead, and try to win it.”

Evidently, Joey Logano is prompting strategy shuffles across the Cup garage. Now a solid Championship threat, Logano can actually spoil the dreams of his playoff rivals.