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NNS: Logano Crushes Field, Stenhouse Extends Lead
Joey Logano won his ninth NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the year…
Joey Logano and Joe Gibbs Racing won the battle, but Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came close to clinching the war Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Logano dominated Saturday’s Great Clips 200 at PIR to win his ninth NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the season.
The big story, though, was series points leader and defending champion Stenhouse finished third to open up a lead of 20 points with one race to go over Elliott Sadler.
Sadler ended his day 22nd after crashing for the second year in a row during the fall PIR race. Barring serious problems next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stenhouse will win his second consecutive series championship.
Stenhouse can clinch next week by finishing 16th or better in the season-ending Ford 300, finishing 17th and leading at least one lap or 18th and leading the most laps. If he seals the deal, Stenhouse will be the first repeat Nationwide Series champion since Martin Truex Jr. in 2004-05.
“That make us feel good,” Stenhouse said of his points lead. “But we’ve given up 20 points in one race, so it’s not over ‘til it’s over. We’ve got some work to do, but it feels pretty good.”
Stenhouse and Sadler came into the race tied in points, but Sadler crashed on his second qualifying lap, which meant he had to start from the back of the field in a backup car. It would prove to be a bad omen on what would become a disastrous day.
“I did it to myself,” said Sadler. “I put my team in a hole qualifying like we did. We tried to work on this car as much as we could, and it just got a little loose there. I just wanted to say, ‘My fault.’ I should have done a better job with these guys, and I just apologize for putting them in this position heading into Homestead. You know, we’re going to go down there and fight, but I definitely dug ourselves a hole.”
It was a much happier story in the JGR camp.
The victory was Logano’s 18th in 109 career Nationwide starts. His teammate Brian Vickers finished second, Stenhouse third and Kyle Busch fourth in his own Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. Kasey Kahne was fifth in the No. 38 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet.
“Another great day, another great car that (crew chief) Adam Stevens prepared for me to go out there and try to win this thing,” said Logano. “To go out there and lock up most poles of the year was cool and obviously this locks up most wins on the year today, so I’m excited about that.”
Vickers scored a runner-up finish in his first race with JGR, where he will drive full-time next year. “I guess the best way to describe it is pleased but not satisfied,” said Vickers. “… I just wanted more.”
Logano started from the pole in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and led 168 of 204 laps to win for the ninth time in just 21 races this season.
The race featured a familiar script — Logano leading most of the laps — until the end.
With nine laps to go, Noel Dowler caused his third caution with a wall banger, crashing in Turn 4.
The race restarted with six laps to go and with three laps left, Stenhouse moved to third and Vickers went into the lead, only to be re-passed the following lap.
Then, chaos.
Sadler, Brendan Gaughan and Cole Whitt crashed on Lap 198, tearing up the No. 2 and bringing out the red flag. Sadler, who was running 12th at the time, initiated the contact and got the worst of it, initiating the contact with Whitt and causing a spin that Gaughan ran into.
Logano held on to win over his teammate in the green-white-checkered finish.
For Stenhouse, a second consecutive championship is at hand after his finish.
“It was exactly the day we needed,” he said. “We thought we had a better race car than what we did, but it’s always tough to tell. … When we put four tires on I felt like we had a really dominant car. There for a few runs we got going and were able to run down the 18 on his back bumper and if he made a mistake we were gonna be right there to get him, but it was a solid day for us. We didn’t have to scramble near as much as the last two weeks, so that made it a lot nicer.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
Logano dominated Saturday’s Great Clips 200 at PIR to win his ninth NASCAR Nationwide Series race of the season.
The big story, though, was series points leader and defending champion Stenhouse finished third to open up a lead of 20 points with one race to go over Elliott Sadler.
Sadler ended his day 22nd after crashing for the second year in a row during the fall PIR race. Barring serious problems next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Stenhouse will win his second consecutive series championship.
Stenhouse can clinch next week by finishing 16th or better in the season-ending Ford 300, finishing 17th and leading at least one lap or 18th and leading the most laps. If he seals the deal, Stenhouse will be the first repeat Nationwide Series champion since Martin Truex Jr. in 2004-05.
“That make us feel good,” Stenhouse said of his points lead. “But we’ve given up 20 points in one race, so it’s not over ‘til it’s over. We’ve got some work to do, but it feels pretty good.”
Stenhouse and Sadler came into the race tied in points, but Sadler crashed on his second qualifying lap, which meant he had to start from the back of the field in a backup car. It would prove to be a bad omen on what would become a disastrous day.
“I did it to myself,” said Sadler. “I put my team in a hole qualifying like we did. We tried to work on this car as much as we could, and it just got a little loose there. I just wanted to say, ‘My fault.’ I should have done a better job with these guys, and I just apologize for putting them in this position heading into Homestead. You know, we’re going to go down there and fight, but I definitely dug ourselves a hole.”
It was a much happier story in the JGR camp.
The victory was Logano’s 18th in 109 career Nationwide starts. His teammate Brian Vickers finished second, Stenhouse third and Kyle Busch fourth in his own Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. Kasey Kahne was fifth in the No. 38 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet.
“Another great day, another great car that (crew chief) Adam Stevens prepared for me to go out there and try to win this thing,” said Logano. “To go out there and lock up most poles of the year was cool and obviously this locks up most wins on the year today, so I’m excited about that.”
Vickers scored a runner-up finish in his first race with JGR, where he will drive full-time next year. “I guess the best way to describe it is pleased but not satisfied,” said Vickers. “… I just wanted more.”
Logano started from the pole in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, and led 168 of 204 laps to win for the ninth time in just 21 races this season.
The race featured a familiar script — Logano leading most of the laps — until the end.
With nine laps to go, Noel Dowler caused his third caution with a wall banger, crashing in Turn 4.
The race restarted with six laps to go and with three laps left, Stenhouse moved to third and Vickers went into the lead, only to be re-passed the following lap.
Then, chaos.
Sadler, Brendan Gaughan and Cole Whitt crashed on Lap 198, tearing up the No. 2 and bringing out the red flag. Sadler, who was running 12th at the time, initiated the contact and got the worst of it, initiating the contact with Whitt and causing a spin that Gaughan ran into.
Logano held on to win over his teammate in the green-white-checkered finish.
For Stenhouse, a second consecutive championship is at hand after his finish.
“It was exactly the day we needed,” he said. “We thought we had a better race car than what we did, but it’s always tough to tell. … When we put four tires on I felt like we had a really dominant car. There for a few runs we got going and were able to run down the 18 on his back bumper and if he made a mistake we were gonna be right there to get him, but it was a solid day for us. We didn’t have to scramble near as much as the last two weeks, so that made it a lot nicer.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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