Logano walking tall in Victory Lane...
  © Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. by Dan Peters

Logano Wins First His Chicagoland Speedway Race – In Record Style

Joey Logano earned his third NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) victory of the season in Friday night's race at Chicagoland Speedway.

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.

"The last restart I got beat and the other restarts, too  -- I don't know why.  The final one (restart) -- the 38 (Jason Leffler) was there hanging with me and I just drove it into (turn) one as hard as I can and hope for the best.  Once we got a big enough gap -- Kyle (Busch) got in that dirty air and we were able to pull away.  I was really surprised.  Dave (Rogers, crew chief) thought I was done.

I was like; 'We're not done yet.  We're not done yet.'  But, deep down inside I thought I was.

This is really awesome.  We've come up second three times, so it's cool to get a win."

To beat Kyle Busch?

"It's awesome, man.  If you looked at every one of my victories -- it's been a one-two finish between me and Kyle (Busch). That's pretty neat.  New Hampshire -- we finished one and
two. So, that's awesome."

What does this win mean to you?

"What an awesome win, I'll tell you.  The fastest car won the race.  I didn't think the fastest car was going to win the race there at the end.  Clean air was huge.  It's cool to get the GameStop Toyota back in victory lane.  We finished second in New Hampshire and I think we finished fourth last week (Daytona), so it's cool to keep this thing up front with these guys. It's so much fun coming over here."

"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.

Did you have anything for Joey Logano at the end?

"It was unfortunate there we had to settle for second.  Congratulations to Joey (Logano) and those guys.  It's another Joe Gibbs one-two and it seems like it's always this way anyways.  Second best is just that.  We weren't the best car out there tonight and Joey (Logano) was better than us."

Was clean air the difference for tonight's winner?

"It was just clean air.  We just saw it tonight -- it was a product of clean air.  Even us on newer tires, if I could have gotten to Joey's (Logano) outside there that one time on the second lap on that restart, I would have had him .  But I couldn't get there and he was able to get the clean air and pull away.  That's what I did earlier in the day until you catch lap traffic then you start slowing down and those guys slow you down that much and everybody else catches up.  It's just a product of what it is."

Lagano in the lead
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. by Mark Rotor

How was your race?

"Joey (Logano) had a better car than us tonight.  We worked all through practice trying to get the thing to where it would tighten up into the corner and never really found that balance.  It was always loose getting in, so you just can't charge the corners and that's where I felt I was getting beat.  Overall, it was a good night and we led a lot of laps.  We still ended up getting beat there. Lapped traffic was a pain in the neck tonight.  This track is just so aero-sensitive that you get around anyone and you slow down a half-second then the guys behind you catch up.  That one run I got through traffic just barely before Joey (Logano) did, and then he got stalled in traffic and I pulled back away.  It is just a product of the way the cars are with the race track tonight.  There really wasn't an outside lane.  I tried going out there a few times and it was even looser up there. Unfortunately, we just didn't have what it took and settled for second."

© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. by Dan Peters

Was there anything left to challenge for the win at the end?

Brian Vickers… "We had a good car and we had the best car at times, usually towards the end of a run.  Those guys would get so far ahead of us that we just couldn't catch back up to them.  I thought we had a shot for it at the end and then Carl (Edwards) jumped on our outside and made it three wide.  I always understood the rule as you had to stay in line or you got black- flagged, but they didn't black-flag him so maybe that's not the rule.  It definitely cost us a shot at the win."

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.

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)

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