Chicagoland Belongs to Logano

[Schwartz Fan]

Chicagoland Belongs to Logano

Managing Editor


JOLIET, Ill. - Joey Logano outran his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to win Friday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Logano scored his third win of the 2009 season and became the eighth different winner in nine Nationwide events held at Chicagoland Speedway.

The win came after what looked like a risky call by crew chief David Rogers to leave Logano on track during the final caution flag of the race rather than pit for fresh tires as the rest of the leaders chose to do.

But on the last restart, Logano was able to stay in front of the field and after a last ditch effort by Busch to try and pass on the outside as they raced down the backstretch, the No. 20 Toyota was able to take the checkered flag.

It was the fourth time this season Logano and Busch finished 1-2.

Joey had a better car than us tonight,” Busch said.

Busch, Brian Vickers and Jason Leffler followed Logano across the finish line to give Toyota its first-ever first through fourth sweep in the series.

"We had the best car at times, usually at the end of the run,” Vickers said. “I thought we had a shot there at the end. I think we’ve got a really good car for tomorrow, so hopefully we can be there at the end of the race.”

Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

Polesitter Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Mike Bliss and rookie Justin Allgaier completed the first ten finishers.

Logano eclipsed Busch's 2008 race record speed with the victory after averaging 147.340 mph in the 200-lap race.

Busch now leads Edwards in the standings by 192 points as the series heads to Gateway International Raceway next Saturday night.

RacingOne.com - Chicagoland Belongs to Logano

[24n48fan]

They made a great call to stay out after the last caution. However, I think even if they had pitted, it probably wouldn't have made a difference.