Joey Logano Claims Can-Am 500

By ESPN

Karma has a funny way of coming back around. Just ask Joey Logano.

A little more than 12 months ago, Logano was eliminated from the 2015 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup when Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked him at Martinsville Speedway, an attack made in retribution for a prior incident between the two a few weeks earlier at Kansas Speedway.

On Sunday, Kenseth was the driver who got wrecked -- pretty much by his own teammate -- opening the door for Logano to win the Can-Am 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. More importantly, the timely victory landed Logano among the four drivers who will compete for the 2016 Sprint Cup next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske Ford were often the dominant combination of the 2015 season, and he was bitterly disappointed that after Kenseth wrecked him at Martinsville, he didn't get the opportunity to compete for the crown.

But thanks to the incredible events that went down late in Sunday's race at Phoenix, he'll get that chance next week for the second time in the three years that NASCAR's Chase has been run using the current 16-driver elimination format.

At Phoenix, Kenseth looked to be cruising to an uncontested victory while Logano was desperately trying to hold off Kevin Harvick for the fourth-place finish he needed to qualify for the Homestead finale on points.

As Kenseth sped around to take the white flag, the yellow flew instead as Michael McDowell crashed in Turn 3. Suddenly, Kenseth had to contend with a restart.

It didn't go well. Kenseth got a good jump into Turn 1, but when Alex Bowman turned down to block a charging Kyle Busch, Busch's car bumped Bowman's car. The contact unsettled Bowman's Chevrolet enough to send it sliding into Kenseth's Toyota, which spun into the Turn 1 wall while Logano and Busch sped past.

An additional restart held no drama for Logano, who easily held off Busch in a green-white-checkered finish.

It was Logano's 17th career Cup Series race win, and his seventh in the Chase since the elimination format was introduced in 2014. That tops all drivers, and he's still just 26 years old.

"Man, this feels so good!" Logano exclaimed in his Victory Lane television interview. "I've never felt this good about a win before. I feel like I won the Daytona 500 again. There's so much on the line, and everybody brings their A-game when it comes to winning championships.

"We're racing for a championship now," he added. "We did exactly what we had to do. We're going to go to Homestead and do the same thing."