TALLADEGA, Ala. -- If a restrictor-plate race win can be called easy, Joey Logano showed the way to do it Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Team Penske driver bided his time through the first three-quarters of the Hellmann's 500, watching as the pole-winning Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. and the Penske Ford of teammate Brad Keselowski both had their engines fail.
Logano assumed the lead on Lap 147 when rising temperatures finally did in Keselowski's engine after Brad led a race-high 90 laps. From there, the No. 22 Ford controlled the pace to the finish, surviving an overtime restart to lead rookie Brian Scott across the line and clinch a spot among the final eight in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs with four races to go.
Logano arrived at Talladega on the cut line, tied for eighth in the points race with Austin Dillon but holding the advantage of a tiebreaker. But while Dillon departed in the same position -- tied for eighth (with Denny Hamlin) and losing out on a tiebreaker, Logano didn't have to worry about points thanks to his second consecutive victory in the fall Talladega race.
The 26-year-old and his Penske team, led by crew chief Todd Gordon, could not have executed any better.
"Man, it just feels good to win at a clutch moment like that," Logano said from Victory Lane. "We come in here with the pressure on, and this team excels when that happens.
"It feels so good to win here because you never know you have it 'til the end," he added. "We're going to the next round."
For most of the day, it looked like Keselowski would be the Penske driver celebrating a crucial victory. He started the day below the cut line, but was determined to take his fate in his own hands by trying to dominate from the front.
But his fate may have been determined by random trash that landed on the grille of the No. 2 Ford. With his oil and water temperatures rising, Keselowski worked with other drivers to shake off the debris, but it was too late as the engine expired in a plume of smoke and fire.
Logano picked up debris on the grille late in the race, but it was a smaller piece that did not have the same catastrophic effect.
He had already overcome a problem of his own, serving a penalty for leaving the pits with a jack stuck under his car after the first pit stop.
"I felt bad for Brad because I think he had the fastest car by a long shot," Logano said. "But unfortunately it happens. There's a lot of garbage flying around and as the leader, you're the first one by it so you end up picking some of it up. We did as well, just not as much.
"I got nervous," he added. "Obviously I can't see the nose, but it wasn't that bad. We had a good enough cushion to be able to pick up a little garbage at the end and everything worked out as planned, I guess."
Logano and the No. 22 team have been somewhat overshadowed this year by Keselowski and the No. 2 side, with the 2 taking four wins to Logano's two.
A year ago, Logano was flying high, winning all three races in the Chase round that cut the field from 12 to eight drivers. But he ruffled some feathers along the way, and he was knocked out of the Chase when Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked him.
He's a year older, a little wiser, and back in the Round of 8. This time hopefully without a handful of rival drivers carrying a grudge against him.
"I learned some valuable lessons last year," he said. "I learned a whole new level I didn't know I had, which was really cool. Now I know how to reach that level mentally inside a race car to make things happen and be a great leader for my team.
"I think we're a little more under the radar than we were last year," Logano added. "We didn't win three races in a row. We've got momentum, we have speed, and we have a lot of confidence for that reason. We know we can do it. The next three racetracks are good for us so we just need to go out there and fight and do what we know how to do."
It's not that Logano has lost the swagger that got him off-sides with Kenseth and a few others. But he has learned how to channel it, and find better ways of expressing it.
On Sunday, he raced his rivals cleanly, and he got the boost he needed from former nemesis Kevin Harvick on the final restart when he needed it.
"It's all about attitude, and this team's got a lot of it, believe me," Logano said. "We showed it last year and we're on pace to do it again. I'm ready for the challenge ahead of us and this team is definitely ready.
"How do you not have confidence when you get to drive for Roger Penske and this awesome team here? We better feel like we can win any time we show up at the race track."
While Joe Gibbs Racing chose to run around at the back and race for points Sunday, Team Penske raced for the win. And while one car blew up and failed to advance, the other got in.
So now it's on to the Round of 8, with the goal of returning the No. 22 car to the Final Four for the second time since the elimination format was introduced in 2014.
"We need to keep the intensity up," Logano said. "We like the pressure. That's kind of our motto this year, knowing that we can fight in those situations.
"Winning today was a great feeling for about 20 minutes," he added. "But now we're thinking about Martinsville already [next Sunday], and thinking about how we're going to get to Homestead and win a championship."