Logano leads Toyota 1-2-3-4 in Chicago

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 GameStop/Wii Sports Resorts Toyota, shares his first Chicagoland Speedway win in Victory Lane after beating Kyle Busch to the checkered finish of Saturday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300
Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

It would have been hard to find more than two people at Chicagoland Speedway who thought crew chief Dave Rogers' final call was the right one.

Even driver Joey Logano had his doubts. But Logano streaked to victory in Friday night's Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race, vindicating Rogers' decision to keep Logano on the track during a late caution in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Logano, who led a race-high 96 laps, stayed out on old tires during the second and final caution of the race — called on Lap 185 because of debris — as did Jason Leffler. After the restart on Lap 192, Logano pulled away from teammate Kyle Busch, who took two tires under the caution.

"I can't believe it, dude — he's driving away from me!" Busch radioed after the final restart.

In fact, Logano pulled away to win by 2.619 seconds over Busch, who nevertheless extended his lead in the Nationwide standings to 192 points over sixth-place finisher Carl Edwards. Brian Vickers ran third, followed by Leffler and Kevin Harvick.

"We thought we got beat there at the end," said Logano, who won his third race of the season and his first at Chicagoland. "Everybody else took tires except for the 38 (Leffler)… But the clean air was big."

Busch conceded that his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate had the superior car. Busch's Toyota was too loose for the driver's liking.

"Joey had a better car than us tonight," said Busch, who has two wins and four runner-up finishes in his last six starts. "I just couldn't charge the corner (because of the loose condition), and I feel like that's where I was getting beat."

Brad Keselowski's championship hopes suffered a severe blow when he ran out of fuel before pitting on Lap 57 during the first green-flag run of the race. Keselowski lost two laps before his crew could get the stalled No. 88 Chevrolet refired. Though he rallied for an 18th-place finish and held third in the Nationwide standings, Keselowski fell 334 points behind Busch.

The same fate befell Ryan Newman, Keselowski's teammate-for-a day at JR Motorsports. Newman was out of gas when he pitted from the lead on Lap 57 and lost a lap in the pits. He finished 22nd.

Note: The average speed of 147.340 mph was a race record, breaking Busch's record of 144.443 mph from last year. The race also set records for fewest cautions (two) and fewest caution laps (11)

Results

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 3 20 Joey Logano Toyota GameStop 195/10 200 Running
2 6 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Z-Line Designs 175/5 200 Running
3 2 32 Brian Vickers Toyota Dollar General 170/5 200 Running
4 12 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 160/0 200 Running
5 10 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches 155/0 200 Running
6 1 60 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts Ortho 155/5 200 Running
7 17 16 Greg Biffle Ford CitiFinancial 151/5 200 Running
8 13 10 David Reutimann Toyota Dollar General Big Stage Sweepstakes 142/0 200 Running
9 15 1 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 143/5 200 Running
10 9 12 Justin Allgaier * Dodge Verizon Wireless 134/0 200 Running
11 16 29 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express 130/0 200 Running
12 8 99 Trevor Bayne Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 127/0 199 Running
13 25 62 Brendan Gaughan * Chevrolet 5-Hour Energy Extra Strength 124/0 199 Running
14 11 198 Paul Menard Ford Libman / Menards 121/0 198 Running
15 26 40 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet Stop Repair B ills.com 118/0 198 Running
16 21 66 Steve Wallace Chevrolet US Fidelis 115/0 198 Running
17 18 15 Michael Annett * Toyota Hype Energy Drink 112/0 198 Running
18 14 88 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet Degree V12 109/0 197 Running
19 35 27 Jason Keller Ford Huggies Pull-Ups / Jewel-Osco 106/0 197 Running
20 30 11 Scott Lagasse Jr. * Toyota America's Incredible Pizza Co. / E-Pak Manufacturing 103/0 197 Running
21 22 09 John Wes Townley * Ford Zaxby's 100/0 197 Running
22 4 5 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Fastenal 102/5 197 Running
23 34 234 Tony Raines Chevrolet LubePro's 94/0 196 Running
24 24 87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet New York City Bagel Deli 91/0 196 Running
25 39 81 Michael McDowell * Dodge D.H. Griffin Companies / Northern Provincial Pipelines 88/0 196 Running
26 29 70 Shelby Howard Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach 85/0 196 Running
27 37 28 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet U.S. Border Patrol 82/0 196 Running
28 41 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet Mahindra Tractors 79/0 195 Running
29 23 01 Danny O'Quinn Jr. Chevrolet 7Up / Sun-Drop 76/0 194 Running
30 27 26 Dennis Setzer Dodge Fischer Honda 73/0 194 Running
31 38 24 Eric McClure Ford Hefty 70/0 194 Running
32 40 61 Matt Carter Ford Specialty Racing 67/0 189 Running
33 42 07 Mike Harmon Chevrolet Protex by Bardahl 64/0 185 Running
34 5 6 David Ragan Ford Discount Tire 61/0 107 Running
35 43 150 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet Graphic Arts Express / Bail USA 58/0 92 Steering
36 36 173 Derrike Cope Dodge Derrike Cope Inc. 55/0 24 Ignition
37 31 05 Casey Atwood Ford 31-W Insulation 52/0 19 Overheating
38 33 0 Mike Wallace Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 49/0 19 Engine
39 32 178 Kevin Lepage Dodge Derrike Cope Inc. 46/0 15 Rear End
40 7 47 Kelly Bires Toyota Construction Jobs.com 43/0 8 Transmission
41 19 91 Terry Cook * Chevrolet MSRP Motorsports 40/0 6 Vibration
42 20 04 Kertus Davis Chevrolet SponsorDavis.com 37/0 2 Vibration
43 28 49 Mark Green Chevrolet GetMoreVacati ons.com 34/0 1 Ignition

* Denotes Rookie