BRISTOL, Tenn.—Joey Logano was enjoying such a perfect day at Bristol Motor Speedway that the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford kept expecting something to go wrong.
It never did.
Logano led all 300 laps of Saturday’s Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 at the .533-mile short track, a record for laps led in a NASCAR XFINITY Series race. It was the first time a driver led every lap in a single race since Kyle Busch accomplished the feat in winning the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond on Sept. 5, 2014.
The victory was Logano’s second of the season, his second at Bristol (and his second straight dating back to his last start at Thunder Valley in 2012) and the 23rd of his career.
“I’ve never led every single lap in a race before—what a fast Discount Tire Ford!” Logano said in Victory Lane. “Gosh, that’s amazing. You’re waiting for something to go wrong. It’s such a fast car, and with late cautions and all that stuff, you’re like ‘All right, where am I going to blow this thing?’
“Those are the ones you’re just nervous throughout the whole race—but what a fast car. (Crew chief) Greg Erwin and all this team here … it was a perfect day. I can’t ask for any more out of them.”
A caution for Jeremy Clements’ contact with the Turn 2 wall brought out the eighth and final caution of the race on Lap 280, but after a restart on Lap 288, Logano pulled away to beat rookie Daniel Suarez to the finish line by 1.172 seconds.
Suarez notched the best finish of his XFINITY Series career. Chris Buescher ran third, followed by polesitter Erik Jones and Ty Dillon. Buescher and Dillon are tied for the series lead, 12 points ahead of reigning series champion and sixth-place finisher Chase Elliott in third.
Early in the race, Kevin Harvick posed the only realistic threat to Logano’s supremacy, but a pit road speeding penalty under caution on Lap 175 sent Harvick to the rear of the field, and the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet never recovered.
Even after stopping for fresh tires under the final caution, Harvick was unable to make up ground. He restarted seventh with 13 laps left and finished seventh, providing plenty of food for thought for NASCAR Sprint Cup crew chiefs who will have to make tire calls in Sunday’s Food City 500 in Support of Steve Byrnes (1 p.m. ET on FOX).
During the 66-lap green-flag run that preceded the final caution, Suarez took over second place from Jones and began to gain on Logano. But Logano’s car had a maneuverability edge in traffic and was able to keep Suarez comfortably behind him.
“At one point in that run I was thinking, ‘Man, maybe I can take it,’” said Suarez, whose finish was the highest ever by a Mexican-born driver in the XFINITY Series. “I just started thinking about the big picture, and it looked like at one point of that run that maybe for 20 laps or after 10 laps, we were a little bit faster than him (Joey Logano).
“Later in the run we started getting a little too tight in the center, so we killed a little of the momentum off the corner, and it looked like he kept the same speed. Maybe he wasn’t super faster than us, but he was a little bit faster. Really, he had a lot of experience and he was able to pass traffic a little faster and with more confidence than me, and at that point he made a good gap between us.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series Race – Drive to Stop Diabetes 300
Bristol Motor Speedway
Bristol, Tennessee
Saturday, April 18, 2015
1. (2) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 300, $61795.
2. (9) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 300, $50774.
3. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 300, $43677.
4. (1) Erik Jones(i), Toyota, 300, $44885.
5. (16) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 300, $34701.
6. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 300, $33566.
7. (6) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 300, $25998.
8. (4) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 300, $31857.
9. (8) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 300, $31635.
10. (12) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 300, $34382.
11. (17) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 300, $31080.
12. (7) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 300, $30979.
13. (21) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 299, $30878.
14. (11) John Wes Townley(i), Chevrolet, 297, $30828.
15. (20) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 297, $31152.
16. (3) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 297, $24702.
17. (23) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 296, $30652.
18. (29) David Starr, Toyota, 296, $30601.
19. (33) Cale Conley #, Toyota, 296, $30500.
20. (25) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 295, $30950.
21. (24) Ryan Reed, Ford, 294, $30574.
22. (32) Blake Koch, Toyota, 294, $30319.
23. (22) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 294, $30268.
24. (28) Todd Bodine, Chevrolet, 293, $30192.
25. (27) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 293, $30291.
26. (26) Eric McClure, Toyota, 291, $30066.
27. (18) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, Engine, 273, $30016.
28. (19) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, Brakes, 268, $29940.
29. (31) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, 260, $29889.
30. (10) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 252, $29634.
31. (5) Denny Hamlin(i), Toyota, 229, $23128.
32. (35) Peyton Sellers #, Chevrolet, Electrical, 227, $28992.
33. (15) JJ Yeley, Toyota, Accident, 206, $28876.
34. (37) Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, Engine, 198, $28841.
35. (39) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Suspension, 106, $22800.
36. (38) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, Brakes, 60, $20646.
37. (36) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, Fuel Pump, 55, $19646.
38. (30) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 41, $18646.
39. (34) Jeff Green, Toyota, Vibration, 28, $17646.
40. (40) Derek White, Dodge, Electrical, 11, $16646.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 87.218 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 50 Mins, 00 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.172 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 48 laps.
Lead Changes: 1 among 1 drivers.
Lap Leaders: 0; J. Logano(i) 1-300.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Logano(i) 1 time for 300 laps.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 258; T. Dillon – 258; C. Elliott – 246; D. Wallace Jr. # – 236; R. Reed – 220; E. Sadler – 215; B. Gaughan – 211; R. Smith – 211; B. Scott – 205; D. Suarez # – 202.
At least this time the wimp didn’t wreck anybody, like he was so prone to do most of the time during his career. He would only wreck lap-down cars as he knew that any top competitor would knock his brains out.