Logano stats shows that he won at Kansas to advance in title race

It seems like Joey Logano studied well to succeed at NASCAR's new championship Chase format. The Kansas Speedway has been considered a treacherous track to drive in to. In order to cover themselves well for the finishing race, the drivers would have to do well in the opener of the second round at Kansas Speedway.

And indeed it was tough as four Chase drivers finished 22nd or worse in a race that was plagued by tire problems for several contenders.

According to Logano "This is nice to get this win and get us through to the next round and not have to worry about Talladega. We came into here thinking we need a solid finish - we can't win the championship (at Kansas) but we can definitely lose it."

The race was a harsh blow for several veteran drivers including the defending NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson. Aside from Johnson who also had a tough time in the speedway where Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne, and Logano's Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski.

Johnson was wrecked early and finished 40th, Earnhardt had a tire problem while leading that caused him to wreck and finish 39th. Keselowski was 36th after his tire problem and Kahne thought a tire issue caused him to hit the wall and finish 22nd.

According to Johnson "t just means we've got to be on our game at Charlotte and Talladega. 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. Certainly need W's, I would assume, going forward."

While Earnhardt commented "Just the whole surface of the tire unwound like a string. It just came off the tire and it popped off the corner. Man, that was a great race car. We hadn't been running very good the last several weeks."

Keselowski on the other hand, knew of the challenges that he had to face in the race track. He said "It was a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun. 'It was Dale Jr.'s turn at the gun earlier."