LOGANO TAKES STAGE 2 AT DAYTONA & LED A RACE-HIGH 34 LAPS
LOGANO TAKES STAGE 2 AT DAYTONA & LED A RACE-HIGH 34 LAPS
Start: 3rd | Finish: 31st | Points: 15th
Stage One: 2nd | Stage Two: 1st
Joey Logano led a race-high 34 laps and picked up his second stage win of the season Saturday night at Daytona, but a late-race incident at the front of the field brought the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford’s run to an abrupt end in a 31st-place finish. Logano started the 400-mile event from the inside of row two and battled for the lead throughout the opening run of the night. The Shell-Pennzoil Mustang led the field into turn one on the final lap Stage 1, but ultimately settled for a second-place finish in the 35-lap segment after the outside lane prevailed. The first caution flag of the night flew on lap 60 for a 14-car incident on the backstretch as crew chief Paul Wolfe made the call for fuel only under yellow in order to make it to the end of Stage 2. All three Team Penske Fords were able to get lined up and work their way to the front shortly after the restart before teammate Ryan Blaney pushed Logano to the lead on the final lap. Logano fended off a three-wide battle to the line as the green-and-white checkered flag waved to pick up his second stage win of the season. With teams varying their strategies on pit road during the stage caution, Wolfe made the call for four tires and fuel as one more stop was needed to make it to the end on fuel. With under 30 laps remaining and window open for green flag pit stops, the caution came out with 21 to go while Logano was scored eighth in the running order as the leaders hit pit road to top off on fuel one final time under yellow. With Blaney lined up behind him in the inside lane, Logano took the green flag with 16 to go as the two teammates again worked their way to the front as the laps ticked off. After the field crossed the line with nine laps remaining, contact between the No. 34 and No. 2 in the outside lane shot the No. 34 down the banking and head-on into Logano, setting off a multi-car wreck in turn one that ultimately marked the end of the night for the 22-team.
“It’s speedway racing. It’s a lot of fun until it’s not. We did a good job keeping our car in position all night, up in the top-five the whole race. We got a stage win, which is great. [Michael] McDowell just got turned and came down in front me with nowhere to go. I think he’s OK as well. Some pretty big hits there, and then horrible to see Josh Berry there a second ago upside-down into the wall. We’ve got to figure out how to keep the cars on the ground. We’re not doing enough to fix that.”
WHAT’S NEXT: The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Darlington Raceway for the regular season finale on Sunday, September 1. Coverage of the Cook Out Southern 500 begins at 6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
