The 19-year-old holds off Brian Vickers and Carl Edwards in a two-lap overtime shootout in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
After Joey Logano’s Toyota got shoved into the outside wall by Greg Biffle’s Ford early in the race, Logano was resigned to hoping he wouldn’t finish worse than 10th.
But after a spree of caution periods kept bunching the field and knocking out other leaders, Logano moved back to the front and then won the Copart 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race in a wild finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
The 19-year-old Logano held off Brian Vickers and Carl Edwards in a two-lap overtime shootout to win his second consecutive Nationwide race after winning a week earlier at Kansas Speedway.
Vickers and Edwards finished second and third, respectively. Los Angeles Times
Taking over for Busch after 39 laps—because Busch had a case of the flu that wouldn’t let up—Hamlin collided with Greg Biffle off Turn 4 while fighting for the lead on Lap 141, exited the race with an irreparable car and was credited with a 31st-place finish.
The accident put a substantial dent in Busch’s points lead over third-place finisher Carl Edwards, who now trails Busch by 155 points with five races left in the season. Brad Keselowski, who rallied from a slow restart on a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race two laps beyond its scheduled distance, finished fifth and is third in points, 227 behind Busch.
Logano rallied from 25th position after Biffle forced him into the backstretch wall while Biffle was passing for the lead on Lap 50 of 152.
“I didn’t think we had a shot at it after Biffle decided to put us in the wall,” said Logano, who pulled away from runner-up Brian Vickers after the final restart on Lap 151. “Apparently, that was the only way he thought he could beat us, but you can’t put this 20 team down.
“We never quit, kept digging all day. I definitely didn’t think we had a shot at it. It was just amazing. ... That was the most fun race I ever had in my life. I went through a point there where [I said to myself] ‘I don’t have a shot at this’ to ‘Try to salvage a top 10 out of it’ to bringing home a Win.” NASCAR.com
Logano benefited from a late-race collision between Hamlin and Biffle, then caught another break when a late caution led to a green/white/checkered finish. He dominated the restart, pulling away from Vickers for the victory.
“I was going to try to salvage a top 10 out of it and all of a sudden I’m sitting third and all of a sudden I took the lead and I thought ‘I got a shot at this thing,’” Joey Logano said. “I can’t believe it.”
“You don’t want to get me mad,” Logano said. “I just race harder.”
Carl Edwards finished third and pulled within 155 points of series leader Kyle Busch, who exited his No. 18 Toyota early in the race because of a fever.
Hamlin filled in capably for his teammate and appeared to have one of the strongest cars on the track when he found himself stuck between Keselowski and Biffle coming out of Turn Four.
Hamlin and Keselowski had a run-in during the Nationwide race at Dover two weeks ago, and Hamlin admitted he got so caught up focusing on Keselowski he never saw Biffle trying to pass on the outside.
“I was trying, if I hold the line low, (Keselowski) ends up wrecking us anyway,” Hamlin said. “Either way it was going to be a bad situation.” The Associated Press
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