Joey Logano wins Talladega: Five takeaways (Video)

Joey Logano survived a relatively clean day at Talladega en route to a spot in the third round of the chase.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like it’s the year of Joey Logano. After winning the first two races of the second round of the chase, Logano completed the sweep by winning the final race of the second round of the chase at Talladega Superspeedway to a loud chorus of boos.

The track favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr., needed to win this race to move on and had a chance at the end to do so, but a wreck behind brought out the caution, which ended the race and Earnhardt Jr. was a mere nose away from passing Logano for the win before the race ended.

Logano has shown the past few weeks that he has the resiliency to escape tracks with a win and now he moves onto the third round with all the momentum in the world.

For Joe Gibbs Racing, what was a dominating season, now appears to be over for the most part. As a result of bad luck, car issues and the big wreck at the end of the race, Joe Gibbs Racing lost Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin to elimination in the chase.

Here are five takeaways from Talladega.

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. loses his championship dream over controversial finish

Dale Earnhardt Jr. handled his controversial elimination from the chase with class. Rather than being upset about the new rules changes at the end of races at Talladega, Earnhardt Jr. admitted he didn’t want to win a race as a result of a caution.

He fought so hard all day to overcome a pit road penalty and worked his way back to the front. Unfortunately a wreck occurred behind him on the track at the end of the race and now Earnhardt Jr.’s season is over, when it looked like he had the line to pass Logano.

Despite the elimination, it was a great day of racing by Earnhardt Jr.

2. Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano’s feud is escalating quickly

The issues between Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano are only getting worse. A week after Logano wrecked Kenseth at Kansas, the issues spilled over into Talladega, when Logano cut off Kenseth in the race.

As a result, Kenseth said on his radio that he was going to knock Logano out after the race.

With the season winding down, this feud between the two drivers is only going to escalate even further in these final races.

3. Even pit crews can almost cost a driver

When it comes to pit road, both the driver and his crew have strict rules to follow. One of those rules, is that the pit crew can’t jump over the wall early.

On Sunday, that proved to be almost costly for Dale Earnhardt Jr. as his team jumped over the wall early and he was issued a pit road penalty.

With no margin for error in an elimination race, that was one thing that Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not want to see at all. Luckily for Earnhardt Jr., he was able to work his way back to the front. However in the end, Earnhardt Jr. was also eliminated.

4. Roof hatches can be dangerous too

Denny Hamlin’s 2015 season has ended as a result of an issue out of his control. At Talladega, Hamlin had one of the fastest cars on the track and the only thing that could stop him, was a loose roof hatch.

The roof hatch provides an alternated escape route for drivers if needed, but with the hatch coming off, NASCAR ordered that Hamlin come down and get it fixed.

His crew would do their best to tape the roof hatch up, but it proved to be costly as Hamlin was eliminated.

5. The third round of the chase begins now

12 drivers have now become eight as the third round of the chase finally begins. Now it’s the semifinal round and all eight drivers will look to be in the final four drivers that compete for a championship in Miami at the end of the 2015 season.

The next three races take place at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix. Each of those tracks will offer different race types and challenges for the final eight drivers looking to move on.

As has been evident in each of the first two rounds, winning a race is the only way to guarantee moving on in the chase, because it takes just one bad race to end a season in any round of the chase. The driving now starts getting even tighter and the four best drivers on the season will arise.

A championship round draws near for four drivers, while the final bell will toll for four others.