By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

DESPITE PLAYOFFS DEFICIT, LOGANO REMAINS CONFIDENT IN CHAMPIONSHIP CHANCES

TALLADEGA, Ala. — With two races remaining to set the four-driver NASCAR Cup Series championship field, reigning series champion Joey Logano comes into the Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway race weekend 24 points below the cutoff line, but, he insists, not feeling desperate title straits yet.

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Logano is a three-time race winner at the famous 2.66-mile Talladega high banks, playing host to Sunday’s YellaWood 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, NRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But even being below the current Playoff line, Logano said Saturday he doesn’t feel like he must win Sunday to advance and have a shot to defend his title.

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford does, however, carry a certain amount of confidence into the race. A three-time Talladega race winner, Logano has led more laps (228) at superspeedway tracks (Daytona, Atlanta and Talladega) than any other driver this season although he’s still looking for a 2025 trophy at one.

“If it wasn’t Talladega, maybe I would say it’s a must win, but I still think there’s two avenues to get there,’’ Logano said. “The most simple way would be winning. But considering what Talladega is and how this race can play out, I still think we can point our way in. I don’t want to completely cut that off yet, I still think there’s a chance. Now, if you’re 24 points out going into Martinsville, you probably must win at that point, but there’s still two races and one of them is at Talladega.”

BELL IN GOOD POSITION

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell turned a good race at Las Vegas last weekend into an improved position in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings.

The driver of the No 20 JGR Toyota comes into Talladega ranked third in the standings – in positive position with two races remaining in this penultimate round of competition. None of the top-three drivers in points have ever won at Talladega while three of the four at the bottom of the standings – Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney all have trophies from NASCAR’s biggest track.

Bell’s best effort was a fifth place in the 2021 Playoff race, but he’s led only nine laps in the seven races since with only two other top-10 showings since – an eighth place in 2023 and a sixth place in this race last year.

The 20-point margin he carries into the race is significant – a decent buffer that doesn’t make Talladega an absolute must-win.

“I think that this is going to be a huge turning point in the Round of 8,’’ Bell said. “It always is, but if we have a Playoff winner, it changes the game dramatically. If we don’t have a Playoff winner, it certainly makes us feel a lot better about it. But either way, you look at it, we’re going to be in a super tight battle, because I don’t think we’re going to get out of here with two non-Playoff winners between here and Martinsville.

“So, it’s going to be — the points are going to be really tight, and we all know that. So, the only way that I would feel comfortable is if I was the lead points car going into Martinsville, and even with that being the case, that’s where I was last year and I didn’t transfer. So, it’s going to be a battle all the way to the checkered flag. It always is.”

“Here in Talladega, it’s a lot more circumstances, so while it is a little bit scarier because it’s out of your control,’’ Bell added. “I’ve taken the approach of it’s going to be what it’s going to be, and then we’ll restack the deck in Martinsville.”

CREW CHIEF CHANGE FOR JUSTIN ALLGAIER-KYLE BUSCH

Big news emerged this week that defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier’s current crew chief Jim Pohlman will be leaving the No. 7 JR Motorsports team next season to lead the NASCAR Cup Series effort of two-time series champion Kyle Busch at Richard Childress Racing.

Allgaier, speaking to reporters Saturday at Talladega for the first time since the announcement, said that he and Pohlman discussed the move before the announcement and Allgaier wished him all the best – reinforcing the great chance for Pohlman to work with someone at the sport’s highest level like Busch, who Allgaier praised as “arguably one of the best to come through our sport.’’

But first, there is the current defense of Allgaier’s series championship.

“I’m super happy for him and this opportunity, after what we’ve been able to accomplish together on the racetrack,’’ said Allgaier, who held a 44-point advantage above the Playoff cutoff line entering Saturday’s Talladega race.

“I would say that had we not won a championship last year it would have been a lot harder for me going into this final stretch of the Playoffs, but I feel like what he’s (Pohlman) brought to this team and what we’ve been able to accomplish, we sat down and he told me what was available and I told him he’d be crazy not to take it.’’

Pohlman’s replacement at Allgaier’s team has not been announced yet.