NASCAR takeaways: Joey Logano opens playoffs with victory to make Round of 12

HAMPTON, Ga. — Joey Logano dislikes the crashes and hard hits that are typical of NASCAR racing on drafting tracks. He pretty much says the racing at those tracks is fun until it's not.

He never got to the no-fun moment as he enjoyed the thrill of winning Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, earning the 34th Cup race-winning trophy of his career and a spot in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

Logano, the leader going into an overtime restart, used a push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney on an overtime restart to retain the lead and held off spring Atlanta winner Daniel Suarez as well to capture the win.

"We all talked about how wildcard this round could be," Logano said. "We knew that the Penske cars would be strong on the superspeedway style type racetracks. We've been all year long.

"Unfortunately, we've been caught up in every possible wreck on these type of tracks [previously this year]."

The four winless drivers who have the fewest points get eliminated in two weeks after races at Watkins Glen and Bristol, but Logano won't have to worry about that thanks to the victory.

Takeaways from Atlanta where Logano, Suarez and Blaney were followed by Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman in the top-5.

Logano Bursts Into Playoffs

The Team Penske driver, a two-time Cup champion, had a relatively lackluster regular season, finishing 15th in the standings. His one victory that gave him a playoff bid came in a five-overtime chaotic race at Nashville.

"More times than not, excluding last year, we've been able to level up when we need to level up," said Logano, who was eliminated in the first round last year. "To be able to fire off your first race of the playoffs with a statement win, it's key."

Logano doesn't have to worry