How Ryan Blaney Helped Joey Logano Beat Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR Playoff Race at Kansas

Published 10/21/2020, 12:45 AM EDT

Recently, former NASCAR driver Jeff Burton spoke about how Joey Logano managed to stave off Kevin Harvick at Kansas. In the latter half of the race, Harvick was clearly the faster driver, but the #22 Penske driver was able to hang on to the win.

According to Burton, Penske teammate Ryan Blaney possibly played a big role in helping Logano. On the final restart, Logano and Harvick were side-by-side, owing to a tactical masterstroke from the pit crew. As a result, Joey Logano had the advantage of picking his preferred line.

Joey Logano survived several attacks from Kevin Harvick

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During that same restart, Blaney found himself nose-to-tail with his teammate. In essence, he was giving Logano a helping hand with a massive push. Unfortunately for Kevin Harvick, he did not have the same luxury as the cars behind him. Harvick’s nearest aide was Alex Bowman, but he was too far away to provide any push.

Blaney then proceeded to take one for the team and make life extremely difficult for Kevin Harvick. He began to box him in and try to slow him as much as possible. Eventually, Harvick was able to dispatch off a pesky Ryan Blaney, but Joey Logano had already built a sizeable lead.

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From that point onwards, it was simply a game of cat and mouse. Harvick tried everything at his disposal, but Logano’s defense was too robust. In the end, Joey Logano staved off several attacks from Kevin Harvick and held on to the lead, and took his 26th career victory.

With the win under his belt, the #22 Penske driver drew first blood and took a berth in the Championship 4. Naturally, this leaves three spots and seven drivers fighting over them.

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Admittedly, some fans were not too happy with the fact that a driver with an outside chance of the championship is in the final 4. Obviously, he can’t do anything about it now and will have to wait to see who will join him in the next 2 races.

Joey Logano’s Crew Chief Feels His Kansas Win Was ‘the Last Thing’ Other Drivers Wanted to See

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.