Joey Logano sizzles with sweep of Chase's second round

TALLADEGA, Ala. — After an unusual and controversial victory Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, Joey Logano drove through a shower of cans and bottles to get to victory lane.

None of which bothered NASCAR’s latest villain, perceived or otherwise.

“I was aiming for them,” Logano joked after winning the CampingWorld.com 500 when a multi-car crash ended the race shortly after a green-white-checkered restart. “I was thirsty. I was aiming for everything. It’s kind of a cool explosion when you hit beer cans and stuff. It explodes all over the place.”

The ugly incident, in which fans booed loudly and pelted the track with cans and bottles, was the product of a bizarre ending in which the initial final restart was aborted and the restart that counted lasted for a second under green before quickly turning yellow for another crash.

The result was Logano’s sixth victory this season in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford and a sweep of the three races in the Contender Round of the Chase.

“The team is going on all eight right now,” Logano said. “It’s amazing — all these different types of racetracks we’ve been able to win at this season and how hard everyone keeps fighting. We want the big trophy at the end of the year. We want to win every trophy in between, but we want the big one at the end of the season.

“What we’ve shown in this latest round is a big deal, but the fact of the matter is that we’re back to zero again. What we do have going for us that other teams don’t have is a lot of confidence. We’ve got momentum, and we’re relaxed. We’ve shown that we know how to do it. We’ve just got to keep going out there and do what we know how to do.”

WATCH: Logano celebrates in Talladega victory lane

What they know how to do is dominate Sprint Cup races. Logano won three races this season — including the Daytina 500 -- before claiming second-round wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Talladega.

They haven’t come without controversy, though. Matt Kenseth fumed after he tangled with Logano and spun out while racing for the lead during the final laps at Kansas. On Sunday, when Logano suddenly darted across Kenseth’s nose to get to pit lane, Kenseth told his crew over the radio that he would “knock him out” and that Logano would be “hiding behind his daddy.”

The controversy, along with the weird ending that left crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr.in second place and prevented him from reaching the eight-driver Eliminator Round that begins next week, culminated in the crowd’s angry reaction.

None of which seemed to bother Logano.

“It was kind of interesting,” Logano said. “Usually there’s one or two, but that was kind of like it was raining out there. It was kind of a new thing, but that’s OK. Everyone is passionate about their driver, and that’s what makes our sport great. I appreciate the passion that our fans have, and I think that’s something that’s really cool to see about the way that people act for their driver. It is what it is. It doesn’t hurt my race car. Our race cars are built strong, so they can hit a lot of stuff and keep on rolling.”

A quick pit stop late in the race got Logano off pit road ahead of the field and into second place, trailing only Greg Biffle, who stayed out and was attempting to make it to the end of the race without a pit stop. But when Biffle was forced to pit for fuel while the field was idling under caution in anticipation of the final restart, Logano found himself in the lead.

That’s when he chose the outside line, which prevented Earnhardt from lining up withHendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon.