Joey Logano team gives crew chief Paul Wolfe legendary new nickname after Las Vegas

Today Joey Logano went all-in with his second lifeline in the NASCAR Playoffs and he cashed out in a big way, winning the race. Now, Logano is headed to the Championship 4 for a sixth time. It’s all thanks to Paul Wolfe.

In fact, Paul Wolfe made such a gutsy and clutch call, Joey Logano and the team have a new nickname for him. Wolfe has earned it, too.

Whatever those Ford engines have going on works. Logano is able to save fuel like no other in the Cup Series. Wolfe knows exactly how to calculate it, too.

“When there’s an opportunity like that at the end of the race where there’s a long run and you’re able to make good mileage, that’s one of our strengths that we have with the Ford so there’s an opportunity there to run it long,” Logano said in the postrace press conference, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “And when you put it together with Paul Wolfe, an incredible crew chief, we call him Big Ball Paul now. He really makes it happen there, our engineers calculating everything…”

Joey Logano reveals a new nickname for Paul Wolfe: pic.twitter.com/TF2h9sb7Fc

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 21, 2024

Joey Logano has three wins now this season. He won in a 5OT fuel-saving battle at Nashville. Then he won at Atlanta to open the playoffs. Now, he wins at Las Vegas once again to advance to Phoenix.

Whatever you want to call Wolfe or Logano, they’re winners. But, admittedly, Big Ball Paul is an elite nickname. With how this team has scratched and clawed its way to the championship, that is more than appropriate.

Joey Logano wins Las Vegas, advances to Championship 4

The one driver that the rest of the NASCAR Playoff field didn’t want to see in this round is Joey Logano. Team Penske and Logano are too good at Las Vegas. They have been so good in these fuel-saving races. Credit Paul Wolfe for that.

Christopher Bell led the most laps and thought he had the strategy to catch up to Logano. However, it wasn’t enough. Bell was able to get within half a second of Logano by the finish, but it wasn’t enough.

What a week for Logano and the 22 team. This time last week they believed that their season was over. Now, they are going to Phoenix and have two extra weeks to prepare for the Championship.

While Joey Logano had an all-time performance today, coming up clutch when it matters most, other NASCAR Playoff drivers did not have a great day. In fact, more than half of the Round of 8 had at least one issue or another. Hamlin, Elliott, Blaney, and Reddick all had problems that cost them a lot of points.