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Nationwide
NNS: Logano Wins At Charlotte
Joey Logano outguns Cup drivers and Nationwide regulars to win Dollar General 300...
Joey Logano stormed to his eighth victory of the season in the Nationwide Series as he held off a series of challengers in the closing laps of Friday night’s Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Logano has been victorious in eight of 18 starts in the series this season. He has won 17 Nationwide races in his career but scored his first victory at CMS.
After all of the leaders made late-race pit stops under green, Logano kept the lead and outran Kevin Harvick by 2.7 seconds at the finish.
Completing the top 10 were point leader Elliott Sadler, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brian Scott, James Buescher and Michael Annett. Danica Patrick was 11th.
Sadler increased his point lead over Stenhouse to 13 with races remaining at four tracks – Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Sadler said the Kansas race next week probably will be the “wild card” of the group.
“We don’t know about the tire or the (new) asphalt,” he said. “It’s the biggest wild card. It should be a handful. It’s the biggest unknown element we have left with four to go.”
The race leaders used a variety of pit strategies as they made their final stops with 10-to-20 laps remaining. Harvick, Sadler, Kyle Busch and Keselowski all pitted for fuel only. Hamlin, Dillon and Logano took right-side tires.
The mission to fire out of the pit quickly cost Keselowski as his gasman didn’t get enough fuel into the car, forcing Keselowski to return to his pit. He finished 18th.
Sadler’s team could have changed tires to have fresher rubber over the closing laps to chase the victory, but he said a fuel-only stop made more sense in the big picture.
“We didn’t want to take chances on a loose lug,” he said. “By far, that (gas only) was the best strategy we could have used. In this part of the season, you don’t want to try to gain two points and lose 15. That’s not smart racing.”
Logano approached his last pit stop expecting to pick up fuel only, but crew chief Adam Stevens chose to go with right-side tires.
“I should know better than to question Adam Stevens,” Logano said. “He’s just amazing. He’s given me great cars every single weekend.
“We had to work really hard for this. The 22 (Keselowski) was pretty good the mid-part of the race. He made some good adjustments. I found a new line and was able to make this GameStop Toyota fast enough to win.”
The night’s third caution appeared on lap 84 when Mike Bliss whacked the outside wall in turn two and slid across the track.
During the pit-stop round prompted by the caution, a pit-crew violation in Dillon’s pit resulted in the driver being sent to the back of the field for the restart. He soon returned to the top 10.
The night turned sour for Sam Hornish Jr. and Justin Allgaier on lap 13 when they touched in turn two, an incident that damaged both cars. Hornish blamed the accident on his spotter.
“My spotter does a great job and made a mistake,” Hornish said. “I feel really bad that it cost the guys that work on the Wurth Dodge, and it also cost Justin and his guys, too. It’s real unfortunate, but when you’re going the speeds that we’re going, whether it’s the driver or the spotter, when anybody makes a mistake, it’s usually pretty costly.”
Both drivers returned to the track after garage-area repairs but were many laps down.
The field’s green-flag momentum was slowed almost immediately at the start as Angela Cope bumped the car in front of her, resulting in radiator damage on her car and spreading fluid around most of the track. The track cleanup took nine laps.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Logano has been victorious in eight of 18 starts in the series this season. He has won 17 Nationwide races in his career but scored his first victory at CMS.
After all of the leaders made late-race pit stops under green, Logano kept the lead and outran Kevin Harvick by 2.7 seconds at the finish.
Completing the top 10 were point leader Elliott Sadler, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brian Scott, James Buescher and Michael Annett. Danica Patrick was 11th.
Sadler increased his point lead over Stenhouse to 13 with races remaining at four tracks – Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Sadler said the Kansas race next week probably will be the “wild card” of the group.
“We don’t know about the tire or the (new) asphalt,” he said. “It’s the biggest wild card. It should be a handful. It’s the biggest unknown element we have left with four to go.”
The race leaders used a variety of pit strategies as they made their final stops with 10-to-20 laps remaining. Harvick, Sadler, Kyle Busch and Keselowski all pitted for fuel only. Hamlin, Dillon and Logano took right-side tires.
The mission to fire out of the pit quickly cost Keselowski as his gasman didn’t get enough fuel into the car, forcing Keselowski to return to his pit. He finished 18th.
Sadler’s team could have changed tires to have fresher rubber over the closing laps to chase the victory, but he said a fuel-only stop made more sense in the big picture.
“We didn’t want to take chances on a loose lug,” he said. “By far, that (gas only) was the best strategy we could have used. In this part of the season, you don’t want to try to gain two points and lose 15. That’s not smart racing.”
Logano approached his last pit stop expecting to pick up fuel only, but crew chief Adam Stevens chose to go with right-side tires.
“I should know better than to question Adam Stevens,” Logano said. “He’s just amazing. He’s given me great cars every single weekend.
“We had to work really hard for this. The 22 (Keselowski) was pretty good the mid-part of the race. He made some good adjustments. I found a new line and was able to make this GameStop Toyota fast enough to win.”
The night’s third caution appeared on lap 84 when Mike Bliss whacked the outside wall in turn two and slid across the track.
During the pit-stop round prompted by the caution, a pit-crew violation in Dillon’s pit resulted in the driver being sent to the back of the field for the restart. He soon returned to the top 10.
The night turned sour for Sam Hornish Jr. and Justin Allgaier on lap 13 when they touched in turn two, an incident that damaged both cars. Hornish blamed the accident on his spotter.
“My spotter does a great job and made a mistake,” Hornish said. “I feel really bad that it cost the guys that work on the Wurth Dodge, and it also cost Justin and his guys, too. It’s real unfortunate, but when you’re going the speeds that we’re going, whether it’s the driver or the spotter, when anybody makes a mistake, it’s usually pretty costly.”
Both drivers returned to the track after garage-area repairs but were many laps down.
The field’s green-flag momentum was slowed almost immediately at the start as Angela Cope bumped the car in front of her, resulting in radiator damage on her car and spreading fluid around most of the track. The track cleanup took nine laps.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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