LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Joey Logano had enough gas in the tank to not only pass Daniel Suarez with five laps to go, but automatically qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 after winning Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Logano, who was eliminated last weekend only to get a second chance after Alex Bowman was disqualified during post-race inspection, was consistently at the front all weekend. He qualified 10th and then finished eighth in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2 before going into fuel conservation mode in the final segment.

The driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse ran second for the latter half of the run as he saved fuel while keeping leader Suarez in view. His effort was complicated even more by Christopher Bell, who pitted and was gaining ground every lap after taking on fresh tires earlier in the stage. Logano played the game perfectly as he passed Suarez and was able to hold off Bell on the final corner to register his third points victory of the season and fourth overall, including the All-Star Race.

As a result, Logano will compete in the Championship 4 for the sixth time in his career and he’ll have an opportunity to win the title for a third time.

Fellow championship contender and defending champion Ryan Blaney suffered bad luck all weekend. He ran over something and punctured a left-rear tire during practice, which sent him into the wall and required the 12 team to go to a back-up. He started from the rear and was making up ground, but he got clipped in a multi-car accident by Brad Keselowski and damaged the toe link on the right-rear of his Mustang. Even though his team replaced it, Blaney was multiple laps down and finished 32nd.

Blaney has races at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway the next two weeks to keep his bid for a repeat alive. He’ll go into next Sunday’s race seventh in the standings, 47 points below the cut line.

The middle race in the Round of 8 will take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Oct. 27 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

NCS RACE TOP-10 FINISHERS
1st - Joey Logano
2nd – Christopher Bell
3rd – Daniel Suarez
4th – William Byron
5th – Alex Bowman
6th – Martin Truex Jr.
7th – Ross Chastain
8th – Denny Hamlin
9th – John Hunter Nemechek
10th – Chris Buescher

REMAINING FORD FINISHERS
14th – Corey LaJoie
15th – Harrison Burton
18th – Noah Gragson
20th – Michael McDowell
21st – Cody Ware
22nd – Ryan Preece
24th – Josh Berry
26th – Chase Briscoe
31st – Todd GIlliand
32nd – Ryan Blaney
34th – Austin Cindric
36th – Brad Keselowski

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW –
A WEEK AGO WAS DEJECTION AND NOW HERE YOU ARE GOING TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4. 
“Oh my gosh. It’s an incredible turn of events coming from what was at the end of last weekend and what it was like Sunday night after a couple hours after the race and to this Sunday. This sport is just incredible. Things change, but what a team I’ve got. I stood out there at the start-finish line and it takes a total effort. Obviously, the car had to be pretty good. It was solid, but when you think about what it takes to win a fuel mileage race, you’ve got to have a good engine. You’ve got to have good engineers calculating stuff. You’ve got to have good communication communicating what they see and being able to make sure that I only gave up the right amount of spots on the racetrack and trying to get to the 99 in front and keep the 20 behind. Coleman, Paul, Joe, Nick Hensley, our gas man making sure it’s full. It takes everybody to do it, so we’re in the Championship 4 again. I’m so proud of this team. We just find a way and that’s what I’m most proud of. I said it as we entered this thing this week that we may be the underdogs, but I don’t think so anymore.”

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO CELEBRATE? 
“I have no clue. We’re a bunch of old guys. We’re probably going home.”

IS THE FAMILY AT HOME? 
“Yeah, they’re all at home. We’ll have a couple weeks to have some fun, but the focus tomorrow morning is gonna be on Phoenix.”

HOW INTENSE WAS THAT FINAL RUN? 
“We do some fuel mileage stuff, don’t we? Holy cow. What an incredible turn of events the last week. What a very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’ve got the old kids crew here today and a lot of kids rooting us on, so it was really special to win in front of them again. My kids at home, I wish you guys were out here, but we’re going to the Championship 4 again. I don’t know what the deal is with the even year thing, but maybe it’s real. Thanks to the fans out here. Thanks to Roush Yates Engines for making great fuel mileage, great calls by Paul and Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure she’s full, giving me the good info I need to save fuel and keep the lead that we needed to. Boy, we’re going racing again. What an incredible situation. I’m so blessed.”

HOW DISCIPLINED DID YOU HAVE TO BE ON THAT LAST RUN? 
“Coleman up there in the spotter’s stand, working with Paul and our engineers – Shaggy and Joe – everybody does a good job at just feeding the info that I needed. You have to go the right pace to make sure you get in front of the 99, but get to where the 20 was gonna catch me. It was an incredible day. Like I said, it takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. It’s not just the engine or the engineers or the driver or the spotter, it takes all of us together to do it. It’s a total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and being able to maximize it at the end.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Great Stuff Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“We’re still alive. It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by the 6 there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the racetrack and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 King’s Hawaiian Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
WHAT HAPPENED ON TRACK? 
“I was coming off of turn four and the guys in front of me got together. It’s a shame. This is the best run we’ve had the whole playoffs. The car was really fast and we were fighting within the top five and top 10. It’s racing. You hang around long enough and you’ve got a shot at it if you hang around the top five or top 10. We just kind of got caught up in somebody else’s deal.”

WHAT HAPPENED? 
“I was kind of a victim of circumstances. A couple of cars got together in front of me and I just couldn’t miss them. It’s a shame. This is one of the best cars we’ve had in quite some time. I was really proud of our team. We were in a good spot to have a great day and just didn’t get to see it through.”

WAS REDDICK’S MOVE TOO AGGRESSIVE? 
“I haven’t seen it, so I don’t really know. I couldn’t see what happened.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Autotrader Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
WHAT HAPPENED DOWN THERE? 
“I have no idea. That’s a great question. I haven’t seen a replay. I just know that they wrecked off of four and the 6 came back up the track and either clipped me or I just got loose from getting up in the gray by the start-finish line and slapped the fence and killed all of the right side suspension and now I get to watch the rest of the race.”

HOW DO YOU MOVE ON NOW THE REST OF THE SEASON? 
“It’s totally frustrating because we’ve had really fast cars, especially today. I felt like we had one of the best cars on the long run and the way those cautions and the strategy and all that, it’s a shame. The last three weeks we’ve had cars that easily could have finished in the top five and some of those we got wrecked. It’s racing. It’s tough, but I definitely want to finish strong.”

A LOT OF AGGRESSIVE MOVES TODAY. DID ANYTHING SURPRISE YOU? 
“Not really. I think the thing that gets more and more frustrating on these is where was the line drawn when it comes back to lagging back on restarts. Depending on where the leader goes sometimes it’s hard to tell, but guys just continually back up to get gaps. It just puts you in a worse spot the further back you go and it’s just the benefits of having track position. That’s one thing that I would say is frustrating.”

NASCAR XFINITY Series (October 19 – Las Vegas)

• Ryan Sieg once again found himself in position for his first career victory, but finished second for the third time this season on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Cole Custer, attempting to win his second straight series championship, won the first stage and finished eighth overall while Las Vegas native Riley Herbst was seventh.
• Custer led twice for 31 laps and goes into next weekend’s race in third place, 16 points above the cut line.
• The top four drivers after the Martinsville race in two weeks will advance to compete for the championship.
• The Xfinity Series Round of 8 continues on Saturday, Oct. 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (4 p.m. ET, CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).