AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joey Logano’s race may have come to a premature end Sunday at ISM Raceway, but luckily for Logano, his place in the Championship 4 was secure two weeks earlier.

Logano saw his chances of a victory at the one-mile desert oval evaporate on lap 96 in the Can-Am 500, when a shredded left-rear tire sent him spinning into the outside wall in turn one, ending his afternoon.

Despite the crash, Logano still left the infield care center with a smile, knowing that his gutsy win at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway two weeks earlier locked him into the title-deciding race on Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

The Connecticut native said he had no idea the tire was deteriorating before his Ford went around in the corner.

“There was no warning. It just came apart,” said Logano. “I don’t know what it was. It may have been something that we ran over that made it go flat, but it came out of nowhere.

“I thought I had it saved, but all the tires were flat by the time I let my foot off the brake. At that point I got up in the fence and we were pretty done after that. … It is what it is. The good news is that we’re already locked into Miami and it doesn’t really make a difference for us. We’ll keep our heads high and move on to next week.”

Even though Sunday’s crash may have appeared to derail Logano’s momentum, he made it clear earlier in the weekend that he feels his Team Penske squad are the favorites to win it all in Miami.

“When the playoffs started, I kind of felt like we were an underdog just making it, but the last six or seven weeks we’ve led a lot more laps, we’ve won a lot of stages, won a race, were fast at Kansas, were fast at Texas … and I think we’re the favorite now to win now,” he said. “I think it’s so crazy to think that it can change that quick, but we are the one team that has been able to say we’re locked in the last couple of weeks.

“I can promise you, I didn’t watch any Phoenix tape when I flew out here. We’re focused on one race.”

As far as carrying momentum into Homestead, Logano wasn’t worried about that either.

“These things are out of your control, so it doesn’t really knock your confidence down because there’s not much you can do about it anyway,” he said.