The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season is inching closer to this year’s playoffs, with only eleven races to go until the postseason showdown between the drivers. Last Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway saw a new winner take a trip to victory lane this year.
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Team Penske’s Austin Cindric won the 300-mile-long race after misfortunes for prior leaders & contenders. Ryan Blaney & Christopher Bell were seen out of the hunt for P1 after mechanical and operational errors for both teams.
The #2 Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver did not lead any laps during the event and passed an out-of-fuel Blaney on the last lap of the race to win, whereas Bell could not challenge up front due to a loss of engine power.
Starting the month with a win. pic.twitter.com/YQEV99eCOL
— Team Penske (@Team_Penske) June 3, 2024
Blaney was left disheartened after coming excruciatingly close to qualifying for the playoffs last Sunday in Madison, Illinois. The defending Cup Series champion was seen dejected after getting out of his racecar at Gateway. He ultimately was classified in P24 after the race.
The third car from Roger Penske‘s Cup Series stale also managed to bring in a good result at Gateway Motorsports Park as Joey Logano backed up previous strong performances at the track with a P5. The 2023 Cup Series champion has finished in P1 and P3 on two prior visits to the venue.
Joey Logano elaborates on his performance during NASCAR’s visit to Gateway last Sunday
The driver of the #22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Roger Penske, Joey Logano wasn’t able to replicate his success at the WWT Raceway from two seasons ago as he fell short of teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric during the event.
Despite finishing ahead of Blaney, Logano would not have clinched P5 had it not been for the latter running out of fuel. This allowed Penske teammate Austin Cindric to pounce on the opportunity for victory, which Logano was not in position for.
He elaborated on his drive from last Sunday and said, “We were just a few adjustments away of getting our Mustang as good as our teammates were, but not too bad. We were able to grab some points and a Penske car got in Victory Lane, so you’ve got to be happy about that.”
Solid points day at @WWTRaceway with a 5th-place finish and points scored in both Stage 1 & Stage 2.
Congrats @Team_Penske teammate @AustinCindric and the No. 2 Team on the big W. While on the flip side, bummed on the final result for @Blaney and the No. 12 Team, as you all had… pic.twitter.com/YXyIK4M10f
— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) June 2, 2024
He further stated, “Obviously, we’d rather it be us, but that momentum goes through the whole shop. It’s still a good day. We still scored a bunch of points today with stage points in both stages. A poor qualifying effort, which probably hurt us a little bit on tuning the car and just a little too loose off.”
NASCAR heads to Sonoma Raceway next weekend for much-awaited road course action with the 2024 Toyota/Save Mart 350.
