Joey Logano started on the pole for today’s Dover 200 at the Monster Mile. Logano had won the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race the past three times at Dover, and he ended up in Victory Lane for the fourth straight time at his favorite track on the NASCAR circuit.
After Logano gave up the lead to fellow Spring Cup Chaser, Kyle Busch, on lap 19, the first caution of the afternoon came out for a Brian Scott spin in-between turns one and two. Scott appeared to get loose in the high groove and spun, but didn’t hit anything. The first eight cars stayed out under this caution and Kevin Harvick, who was 9th when the caution flag flew, was the first car to come onto pit road. On lap 30, Kyle Busch rocketed out to a large lead just laps after the restart. The action stayed single file at the front of the pack until Donnie Neuenberger spun on the backstretch. His spin would result in the final caution of the afternoon. Everyone knew that more pit stops were upcoming, even though it was just only 10 laps after the first caution. Kyle Busch was the only driver who didn’t pit under the first caution who also stayed out this time. Regan Smith and Kevin Harvick, who pitted under the first caution, would restart second and third respectively. Brian Vickers and Sam Hornish Jr. took two tires when they came to pit road. Justin Allgaier took none and everyone else, starting with the eventual race winner Joey Logano, took four tires.
The second and final restart of the afternoon occurred on lap 41 of 200 with the first car with two tire restarting 13th. Nonetheless, Busch rocketed out to a big lead again. Despite Travis Pastrana hitting the wall, forcing himself into Brian Scott, one lap after the restart, the green flag stayed out. On lap 50, Joey Logano was all the way up to sixth from eighteenth, where he restarted just nine laps earlier. On lap 87, race leader Kyle Busch smoked his tires coming onto pit road and Logano assumed the top spot. Busch’s decision to stay out during the two caution periods would cost him in the end. Busch came out in 23rd place on lap down. It took awhile for him to cycle back into the lead once the other cars pitted under the green flag.
Coming into this race, Sam Hornish Jr. led Austin Dillon by 15 points in the drivers championship. Approaching the halfway point of this race, which was the fastest 200 mile race in NASCAR Nationwide Series history, Hornish Jr.’s car was very ill-handling, and he was riding around in 16th place. Green flag pit stops begun with 90 laps to go. Regan Smith, Kevin Harvick, Elliott Sadler, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Larson and Brian Vickers were the first few drivers that ducked down onto the tricky Dover pit road for four tires, adjustments and fuel. Everyone had pitted but the race leader, Joey Logano. He eventually pitted on lap 115 along with Brad Sweet. After everyone cycled out, Kyle Busch re-assumed the lead. He was followed by Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Regan Smith and Kevin Harvick.
This is where things went downhill in a hurry for points leader Sam Hornish Jr. He was caught for speeding on pit road and ended up being two laps down in the mid-20’s after he served his pass-through penalty. With 59 laps remaining, Joey Logano, who was 5.4 seconds behind the No. 54, ran down Kyle Busch and passed him for the lead, which he would not give up again. With 50 laps to go, there was some talk of whether or not the No. 22 could make it to the checkered flag on fuel or not. Crew Chief Jeremy Bullins re-assured Logano that they were good to go, but not for a green-white-checkered. By lap 160, there were only seven, yes, seven, cars on the lead lap!
Kyle Busch pitted on lap 175, ending his chances for redemption at the Monster Mile. He eventually finished in 8th place and declined to speak with reporters following the race. With 10 laps to go, Logano was up on the No. 32 by a comfortable 10 seconds. He ended up winning by almost 10 seconds. Kyle Larson came home 2nd, Kevin Harvick 3rd, Brian Vickers 4th and Elliott Sadler in 5th place.
This was the No. 22 car’s 11th win of the 2013 season with its fourth different driver and Logano’s aforementioned 4th straight win at the Monster MIle. He’s now in a class with names like Jack Ingram and Dale Earnhardt to win four straight races at one single track in NASCAR Nationwide Series history. When asked how it felt to win four straight at Dover, Logano told ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch “It’s a huge deal, […] it’s obviously my favorite race rack.” Also, when asked is he was concerned with making it to the end on fuel, Logano replied with a laugh and said, “I don’t know!” Kyle Larson said “We’ll take a second,” after what seemed like a bad stretch of a month or so for the No. 32 team. Regarding the longest green flag run in NNS history, third place finisher Kevin Harvick said, “Sometimes you just get that feeling,”
When it was all said and done, no positions changed hands in the close points battle in the series. Sam Hornish Jr. (989 points) leads Austin Dillon by four points heading into Kansas next weekend. Elliott Sadler and Regan Smith are 42 and 43 points back of the leader, respectively. The win also extended the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford Mustang’s owner championship lead over the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.
Another Logano Benefit Race, that is after ESPN finally decided it was time for people to see the race. Fans screwed again, as they were by FS1 for the truck race.
Didn’t watch either one as we don’t owe them that.