NASCAR insiders suggest Toyota's biggest Kansas regret could revolve around Joey Logano

Joey Logano was about to have a day that would have ended with him sitting below the playoff cutline. But in overtime of Sunday’s Round of 12 race at Kansas Speedway, Toyota bottled it.

They started in positions 1-5 on the overtime restart, but it was Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet’s Chase Elliott who took the checkered flag. Bubba Wallace had the lead going into the final corner on the last lap, but Denny Hamlin washed up the track and Wallace brushed the wall. A Wallace win would have put Logano below the cutline heading into this Sunday’s Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte ROVAL. Instead, he’s plus-13 above, even after finishing 21st at Kansas.

Logano was caught up in a late wreck that impacted his day. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic still believes he’s “unbelievably dangerous” as it relates to the playoffs moving forward.

“Logano, man, he would have had an even better day today if he had not gotten caught up in that wreck. He is so dangerous,” Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “He is unbelievably dangerous.”

Logano knows a thing or two about making the most of the current playoff format. He is a three-time champion under the system, winning two of the last three championships.

Joey Logano sitting above playoff cutline after ‘hard weekend’ at Kansas

Toyota had an opportunity to “put a stake to the vampire” at Kansas, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic said. Instead, they gave Logano a lifeline.

“He is dangerous and that’s why again, Toyota had the opportunity to put Logano on his back foot on a track they [Penske] do not do well at and instead, he’s above the cutline by 13 points. Man, they could come to rue this,” Bianchi said. “This could be where the championship flips in a big way. … You got an opportunity to put a stake to the vampire, you put a stake through the vampire.”

Logano is still far from safe. He needs to have a good run at the ROVAL, a place where he’s tallied six top 10s in seven starts. But after a race where so much went against him, he’ll take the position he’s currently in.

“It was a hard weekend,” Logano said after the race. “I thought we were recovering pretty well scoring stage points in both stages after starting in the back. I’m like, ‘All right, we’re OK here. We can kind of roll through here and we’ll be all right,’ and I just got caught up in that wreck on the restart and tore something up. I don’t know, but it wouldn’t turn after that.

“We tried to throw a ‘Hail Mary’ with two tires, but there were too many restarts, and you can’t hold them off. I kept getting used up, so it sucks. We’re plus-13. It is what it is. We’ve got to go race, but it’s going to be close.”