Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR
Joey Logano simply got mad after Greg Biffle put Logano in the wall Saturday in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway.
His father, Tom, tried to get even, and lost his NASCAR credentials in the process.
Joey Logano recovered to win the 300-mile race, pulling away from Brian Vickers over the final two laps to pick up his fifth series win of the year, and second in a row.
Yet while the 19-year-old exalted in Victory Lane, his father was being taken to the NASCAR hauler to talk with Nationwide Series director Joe Balash following a postrace confrontation with Biffle. The Associated Press
The 19-year-old Logano started on the pole, but fell well back after an incident with Greg Biffle early in the race. Logano steadily worked his way back to the front and caught a break when Biffle and Denny Hamlin collided with less than 10 laps to go.
Logano took the lead following a caution with two laps to go, then pulled away from Vickers. The win proved to be sweet vindication for Logano, who figured he had a top-20 car at best after a scrape with Biffle sent him into the wall. Albany Times Union
Vickers and Edwards finished second and third, respectively.
“That was the coolest race of my life,” Logano said. “I didn’t think we had a shot at it,” but his team “never quit, kept digging all day. That was just amazing.”
The race had 10 caution periods, a record for a Nationwide race at the two-mile Fontana oval. And one, with only nine the regulation 150 laps remaining, came after Biffle also collided with Denny Hamlin, whose No. 18 Toyota appeared to be the strongest car.
Hamlin had taken the wheel car after Kyle Busch, his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, started the race and led 33 laps but then needed relief because of flu. “It was just temperature,” Busch, 24, said after climbing out of the car. “When I get in the car and I get hot, I start not being able to see exactly straight.” Los Angeles Times
Finish Start Car Driver Make 1 1 20 Joey Logano Toyota 2 5 32 Brian Vickers Toyota 3 16 60 Carl Edwards Ford 4 10 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 5 7 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 6 24 15 Michael Annett * Toyota 7 18 62 Brendan Gaughan * Chevrolet 8 6 1 David Gilliland Chevrolet 9 9 6 David Ragan Ford 10 13 27 Jason Keller Ford 11 22 198 Paul Menard Ford 12 21 0 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 13 8 81 Mike Bliss Dodge 14 14 16 Greg Biffle Ford 15 25 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 16 3 12 Justin Allgaier * Dodge 17 23 9 John Wes Townley * Ford 18 32 23 Kevin Conway Chevrolet 19 11 11 Trevor Bayne Toyota 20 39 234 Tony Raines Chevrolet 21 40 40 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 22 29 29 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 23 15 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet 24 41 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 26 19 183 John Borneman III Ford 27 36 61 Matt Carter Ford 28 12 99 Scott Speed Toyota 29 42 24 Eric McClure Ford 30 17 38 Jason Leffler Toyota 31 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 32 38 26 Michael McDowell * Dodge 33 43 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 34 20 7 Danny O'Quinn Jr. Chevrolet 35 34 49 Mark Green Chevrolet 36 28 196 Dennis Setzer Dodge 37 30 87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 38 37 141 Kevin Hamlin Chevrolet 39 27 173 Derrike Cope Dodge 40 31 178 Kevin Lepage Dodge 41 35 91 Terry Cook * Chevrolet 42 33 90 Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 43 26 47 Chase Miller Toyota
