NASCAR was in a very tough position when the organization had to determine what to do after it was found out that Joey Logano may have benefited from a pass during the race at Richmond and after Jeff Gordon was squeezed out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup as a result, NASCAR decided to grant him a 13th spot in the playoffs.
According to ESPN.com, Gordon was added to the Chase as a 13th driver after NASCAR reviewed radio communications and video from the Richmond race last week, as Logano was able to get past David Gilliland to help push Gordon out of the Chase and the finals spot. While that has never happened before, NASCAR felt it was the best way to address the situation, since another issue came up in that race with Clint Bowyer's spin out as well.
Some drivers were not happy about adding an odd number of cars to the Chase, but Gordon was put in a bad situation after what NASCAR reviewed and now he is in the Chase. The original issue that came up happened when Bowyer spun out and later that was said to be intentional and that helped knock Martin Truex into the race and Ryan Newman out, but after that situation occurred, NASCAR put Newman in the race. Newman had the chance to win the race and the spinout derailed that and it also put Gordon in a position to get knocked out of the race.
Nothing ended up happening to Logano himself after the communications were looked at, but adding Gordon means that NASCAR does not want that type of thing to go on, which is why they imposed a huge fine after the Bowyer spin out on Michael Waltrip Racing. Now the field will have 13 drivers when it starts at the Geico 400 at Chicago on Sunday, including former champions Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.
Logano ended up winning the pole for the first race of the Chase and last year's champion Brad Keselowski came next, although he didn't make it into the playoffs after being the champ last season. Logano will now have to race in the Chase with what happened in Richmond hanging over him and Newman and Gordon will have plenty to race for.
