With one final championship berth on the line, it was only fitting that the race went into overtime and it was also fitting that late race calamity allowed Joey Logano to sneak his way into the Championship 4.
Alex Bowman led the field to the green flag at 2:48 p.m. and it only took until Turn 4 for a car, the 42 of Kyle Larson, to spin out and bring out the first caution.
It went back green on the sixth lap and settled into a long green run. During the stretch, Kevin Harvick’s car fell back as he was complaining of his car first being loose, then “plowing through the center.” Martin Truex Jr. entered the top-10 for the first time on lap 63 after starting 40th.
Green flag stops started on lap 79 and caution flew for the second time on lap 82 when Ryan Newman locked up trying to slow down getting onto pit road, spun out and slammed into the back of Larson. The damage to Larson was minimal.
During the caution, Truex was held a lap for “pulling up to pit.”
Back to action on lap 91, Logano worked his way to the lead two laps later. Jimmie Johnson drove by Logano on the backstretch to take the lead on lap 120. Debris on the frontstretch brought out the third caution on lap 132. Logano exited pit road first.
Johnson was also held a lap “pulling up to pit.”
The race restarted on lap 140. Bowman drove past Logano on the backstretch to retake the lead on lap 158. Debris in Turn 1 brought out the fourth caution on lap 210.
On the ensuing lap 218 restart, a three-car accordion-effect wreck in Turn 2 involving Austin Dillon, Greg Biffle and Johnson brought out the fifth caution.
The next run went close to 30 laps after restarting with 84 laps to go before a two-car wreck involving Newman and Truex brought out the sixth caution. Denny Hamlin opted to stay out and take the lead.
On the ensuing restart with 51 to go, he lost the lead to Matt Kenseth.
After debris slowed the race for the seventh time, it went back green with 43 to go.
Bowman had the strongest car during the run and worked his way up to second with under 20 to go. But with an almost four-second gap, his only hope of catching Kenseth was a caution.
A wreck by Michael McDowell with two to go gave him the break he needed.
On the first overtime attempt, Kyle Busch got Bowman loose as he tried to go for the inside line going into Turn 1. In doing so, Bowman was left with no room to avoid hitting Kenseth going into Turn 1 and punted him into the wall.
Based on the scoring loop, Logano was placed in the lead.
The following restart was a clean restart and he drove on to score the victory.
It’s his 17th career victory in 290 Sprint Cup Series starts, third of 2016, first at Phoenix International Raceway and 25th top-10 finish of the season.
Kyle Busch came home runner-up.
It’s his 24th top-10 finish of 2016 and 15th in 23 races at Phoenix.
Larson rallied back from his lap 1 spin to round out the podium.
Harvick, who had made Phoenix his playground since 2012, was a non-factor in a fourth-place finish.
“We just started way too far off on Friday,” Harvick said. “We never got a handle on the racecar. They made it a ton better in the race and we were in contention there at the end and just came up short. Just really proud of everybody for the effort that they put in. It was a very challenging Chase for us for all the mechanical failures and situations that we had going on. We kept rebounding and winning races and today we were a lap down and came back to have a chance at the end. That says a lot about the character of our race team and we just came up short this year.”
Teammate Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five.
Bowman, who led a race-high of 194 laps, finished sixth.
“It was a really fun day,” Bowman said. “Greg (Ives, crew chief) and all the guys made great changes all day. We had the best car all day long. Really disappointed. I hate that we got into Matt (Kenseth) like that. Just really disappointing end to the day, but one of those deals. Just a racing deal. I don’t know if his spotter cleared him or what, but I was up against the inside wall when we made contact. It says a lot about Hendrick Motorsports and Greg Ives and the whole Nationwide Chevy team. We were so strong all day, fastest car, but the fastest car didn’t win the race this weekend.
“Man, it’s just really disappointing. But everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, the Hendrick engine shop, Nationwide, Axalta, it just means so much for them to put faith in me. I don’t think I have ever led a Cup race before and to lead as much as we did and to run like we did today is amazing.”
Twenty-one cars finished on the lead lap and 38 were running at the finish.
Only Gray Gaulding, fuel pump, and Truex, accident, retired from the race.
The race lasted three hours, eight minutes and 59 seconds at an average speed of 102.866 mph. There were eight lead changes among five different drivers and nine cautions for 53 laps.
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