Joe Gibbs Racing driver Joey Logano tightened his stranglehold on Nationwide Series competition at Kentucky Speedway by earning his third consecutive “Meijer 300 presented by Ritz” victory from the pole position by 0.662 of second over Carl Edwards tonight.
Logano led the 200-lap battle five times for 106 laps and survived a series-track-record tying 10 caution periods that covered a new series track-record 54 yellow-flag laps before nailing down the fourth-closest Nationwide Series finish and fifth race to be decided by less than a one-second margin of victory in the track’s 11-year history.
“I don’t know what feels better—going three-for-three (at Kentucky Speedway) or finally getting a win this year. We’ve had quite a few stolen from us, and Carl (Edwards) was running hard there at the end. I thought, ‘man, I don’t want to lose another one this way,” he said.
After leading the opening 22 laps, the recently-turned 20-year-old driver was shuffled back no further than the third spot in the 43-car field the remainder of way. He took the race lead for the fourth time on Lap 169, but lost it to Gaughan six laps later. Logano raced back to the front for the final time with 25 laps to go and held off a fast-closing Carl Edwards to seal the victory.
“My restarts, especially the first lap, I wasn’t up to speed, but after that I was able to make something happen with this car. Clean air was a big deal tonight, and the last 25 laps I was going for all I had. I know Carl (Edwards) was too, he had a real good car. This was just the way it played out. It was really cool to win it this way,” Logano said.
Edwards earned his second career Kentucky Speedway Nationwide Series top-five finish and first since his 2005 win at the track from the pole position. His second consecutive top-five finish of the season gives him a total of seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes.
Nationwide Series championship leader Brad Keselowski took third, Brendan Gaughan placed fourth and Reed Sorenson rounded out the race top five.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 20 Joey Logano Toyota 2 60 Carl Edwards Ford 3 22 Brad Keselowski Dodge 4 62 Brendan Gaughan Toyota 5 32 Reed Sorenson Toyota 6 66 Steve Wallace Toyota 7 27 Scott Wimmer Ford 8 12 Justin Allgaier Dodge 9 21 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 10 16 Colin Braun * Ford 11 99 Trevor Bayne Toyota 12 104 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 13 18 Brad Coleman Toyota 14 6 Brian Ickler Ford 15 7 Josh Wise Chevrolet 16 43 Scott Lagasse Jr. Ford 17 70 Shelby Howard Chevrolet 18 88 Coleman Pressley Chevrolet 19 34 Tony Raines Chevrolet 20 40 Jeff Green Chevrolet 21 1 Mike Wallace Chevrolet 22 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 23 35 Jason Keller Chevrolet 24 33 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 25 87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 26 73 Derrike Cope Dodge 27 9 Sean Caisse Ford 28 81 Michael McDowell Dodge 29 24 Eric McClure Ford 30 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 31 11 Brian Scott * Toyota 32 98 Paul Menard Ford 33 38 Jason Leffler Toyota 34 15 Michael Annett Toyota 35 10 Tayler Malsam Toyota 36 5 Willie Allen Chevrolet 37 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 38 156 Kevin Lepage Toyota 39 91 Chase Miller Chevrolet 40 49 Mark Green Chevrolet 41 90 Danny O'Quinn Jr. Chevrolet 42 61 Matt Carter Ford 43 92 Dennis Setzer Dodge
| 
|