MARTINSVILLE, Va. — When the reigning series champion slipped past him with one lap to go at Martinsville Speedway, Joey Logano figured he had lost his shot at racing for NASCAR’s title.

A win would earn Logano one of the four spots in the winner-take-all championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So if he didn’t try something, his chance at a Cup championship might slip away.

Logano used an old fashioned bump-and-run on Martin Truex Jr. to Sunday and snatch one of the four tickets to the finale. Truex slid sideways across the finish line and promptly declared Logano won’t take his title from him this year.

“He may have won the battle, but he ain’t winning the damn war. I’m not going to let him win it (the championship.) I’m going to win it,” Truex fumed.

Logano took Truex’s warning in stride.

“OK. That’s expected,” Logano said. “This was our shot, maybe our only shot, so we had to make it happen.”

Logano was showered in boos and Truex, standing on pit road next to his third-place car, jeered the winner with both thumbs down as Logano was interviewed over the p.a.system.