Joey Logano drove his No. 22 Penske Ford to Victory Lane Saturday at Watkins Glen International in the Xfinity Series Zippo 200. This marked Logano’s 30th win in the series and his second Xfinity win this year.
Logano started from the pole position today and led 31 laps. Even driving in the rain wouldn’t dampen his efforts to obtain the prize. Logano fought hard with teammate Brad Keselowski and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ryan Preece in the closing laps, going three-wide on the last restart. Preece finished fourth and Keselowski, who spun with 2 laps to go, recovered from the spin to finish 10th.
“That was all I had,” said Logano, “He (Keselowski) was definitely faster. I thought the tires would have been enough to be faster than him.
“I had a good restart and got in front of him, and he dogged me. These Xfinity cars draft quite a bit down these straightaways, and it’s hard to pull away. It felt good to race each other really hard, so it’s cool to see Penske cars doing that.”
Stage 1 would have one minor caution, however, Logano led from flag to flag becoming the stage winner. But the skies were darkening and the threat of rain was in the air.
Stage 2 would be the most challenging stage. Rain started to fall and on Lap 31 NASCAR made the call to have the cars pit to get rain tires and wipers on. On Lap 34 Vinnie Miller lost control of his car and went hard into the tire barriers. The red flag came out so the barriers could be repaired. By the time the repairs were completed the rain had stopped and the track was starting to dry. Some of the drivers pitted to put slick tires back on, while others waited until the end of the stage. A.J. Allmendinger would win the stage.
The final stage of the race Keselowski started in the lead but had Kyle Larson all over his bumper trying to get the spot. Logano made his way up to third and battled with Larson to get second place. Once Larson was out of the way, Logano set his sights on Keselowski in first place. The two drivers put on a great show battling each other hard but cleanly. With eight laps to go Logano took the lead and won the race. Allmendinger would bring his car home in the runner-up spot and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top three.
Ryan Preece and Aric Almirola would round out the top five. Cole Custer, Brandon Jones, Ryan Reed, Christopher Bell and Brad Keselowski finished sixth through 10 respectively.
Christopher Bell leads the Xfinity Series Standings with 737 points, Custer is in second with 715points followed by Daniel Hemric in third with 714 points. Elliott Sadler is in fourth with 711 points and Allgaier rounds out the top five with 700 points.
The Xfinity Series heads next to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Mid-Ohio 200, on Saturday, Aug. 11.
