Last year’s Richmond race featured a dramatic overtime ending that ultimately affected the Playoff situation.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon won the race that included eight laps of overtime and hard contact between him and Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who was leading after the overtime re-start.
In the days following the race, Dillon was ruled ineligible for the Playoffs because of the aggressive move but allowed to keep the win. And Logano was fined $50,000 for his angry reaction post-race, spinning his tires in front of Dillon’s team’s pit stall.
“It’s a year ago and you’ve got to move forward at some point,” Logano said of the frustrating ending to his Richmond race last summer. “Gotta go and get sweet redemption.”
Logano a three-time and the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion is currently 10th in the Playoff standings having claimed a victory at Texas Motor Speedway in May. He’s had only a pair of top-10 finishes in the last five races, but has wins at both this week’s Richmond track (2017) and is the 2015 Daytona 500 champion.
“You’re never where you want to be, you’re always striving for more,” said Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. “I wish we had a few more Playoff points at this point.
“With all that said, been here before and it’s worked out pretty well,” he added with a smile. You’re never out of these things. Just have to stay alive and get through the rounds. We’re definitely starting the Playoffs behind the eight-ball, a little behind where we’d like to be, but like I said, pretty much all three championships looked really similar. It’s okay.”