CP MOTORSPORTS - LOGANO DOMINATES AS CHASE CONTENDERS DISSIPATE
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Joey Logano dominated the rain postponed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on a day which saw mistakes made by many of his fellow Chase competitors.
Leading a race high 227 laps and grabbing his fourth victory of the 2015 season, Logano punched his ticket into the next round of the Chase.
The win is also the first at Charlotte in Logano's career.
"We had a great car," Logano said. "(Crew chief) Todd Gordon and this Shell/Pennzoil team, all of Team Penske, you always want to win it. Charlotte is everybody’s home turf and you want to make it happen here. What a great car."
Logano made it all the way to the final round of the Chase last season and he knows winning this early in the round is important.
"Obviously we can all talk about Talladega and how special it is to get through to the next round," Logano said. "The pressure that a lot of these drivers are going to have on them and we had on us when this race started to get through to the next round is big. To be able to have that pressure off of us and to be able to relax and enjoy this next round, and don't get me wrong there's still two trophies to win, but to have that pressure off and be able to have our batteries charged up and ready to attack when we get to the next round, that's going to pay big dividends."
Kevin Harvick dominated in a must win situation last week at Dover and kept his momentum rolling with a second place finish. It's Harvick's 11th runner up finish of the season and the third time he's finished behind Logano.
Harvick, who won this race and the Sprint Cup championship last year, is satisfied despite not winning the race.
"I thought things went well and the guys did a great job on pit road and we were able to capitalize with their solid day and gaining track position," Harvick said. "Car wasn't great all weekend but we were able to make headway on it and make gains and to do the things we needed to do to make it better. In the end that's what you want to do on a day like today and we made a really good day out of it. Obviously you want to win but with so many guys having trouble you want to capitalize on a top-5 run, too.
"It was definitely one of those days that could have been better but could have been a whole lot worse."
Martin Truex, Jr, brought home a third place finish. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet led the most laps at Charlotte back in May has now notched eight top five finishes this season - a new career high.
Truex knows elimination looms for everyone but the winner.
"Talladega is still there," Truex, Jr, explained. "Third is great and all, but it's no guarantee."
Chase contenders owned the top six positions as Denny Hamlin grabbed a fourth place finish followed by Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.
Austin Dillon, who is not in contention for the title, finished in seventh place with Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola rounding out the top ten.
However, the day was challenging for many of the Chase front runners mainly Joe Gibbs Racing's Matt Kenseth.
Kenseth started from the pole and led 72 laps made a huge mistake sliding through his pit box forcing him back in the 20th spot on the ensuing restart. After falling back in the pack, Kenseth appeared to make contact with the No. 31 Chevrolet of Ryan Newman which sent Kenseth into the wall.
Kenseth's day would end earlier than expected after a broken part caused him to make hard contact the wall again. Kenseth, who won the first race of the Chase, finished in 42nd place and now sits in last on the Chase grid.
"Everything kind of snowballed," Kenseth said. "This is the best I can do. It's amazing I have a job. One thing led to another and then another."
Kyle Busch shared the front row with his JGR teammate Kenseth but did not fare much better as he could only manage a 20th place finish. Busch's downfall happened as he was running third under caution. Busch appeared to fake a dive onto pit road at the same time Kyle Larson, running second, was attempting to enter pit road.
The pair collided and forced both to the back of the pack for the remainder of the race. Larson, who is not Chase eligible, apologized over the radio and accepted blame for the incident.
“I feel like an idiot really. It’s super embarrassing to wreck on pit road like that,” Larson said. “I hate it for the 18 team they were really strong all day. I just feel really bad. I hope I didn’t cause them to miss the next round.”
Busch knows the finish puts his team in a precarious situation.
"It's tough," Busch said. "We're going to have to battle through with what we've got right now,"
As much as Sunday's race was tough on JGR, it was equally as tough on their Hendrick Motorsports counterparts. Kasey Kahne, who is not in the Chase, hit the wall twice after tire problems and went into the garage just 58 laps in the books.
Kahne's HMS teammate and Chase contender Dale Earnhardt, Jr, appeared to make contact with the wall after getting together with Carl Edwards. While Earnhardt, Jr, tried to continue on he made contact with the wall a second time and forced him to the back of the field.
Earnhardt, Jr, finished one lap down in the 28th spot.
Fresh off being eliminated from the Chase last week at Dover, Jimmie Johnson's struggles continued. While Johnson appeared to have a frontrunning car early, oil pump issue forced him out of the race and into the 39th place finishing position.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 30
Unofficial Race Results for the 56Th Annual Bank Of America 500 - Saturday,
October 10, 2015
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 334 Laps - 501 Miles - Purse: $5,306,331
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 3 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 334 48 5 146.4 $329,873 Running 4 227
2 11 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's/Budweiser Chevrolet 334 42 119.2 $240,750 Running
3 15 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet 334 41 105.8 $172,320 Running
4 5 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 334 40 115.0 $147,225 Running
5 6 41 Kurt Busch State Water Heaters Chevrolet 334 39 107.2 $139,150 Running
6 8 19 Carl Edwards Stanley Toyota 334 39 1 99.1 $117,040 Running 1 1
7 14 3 Austin Dillon DOW - Great Stuff Chevrolet 334 38 1 103.5 $141,151 Running 1 1
8 22 24 Jeff Gordon 3M Chevrolet 334 37 1 85.7 $144,701 Running 1 1
9 13 2 Brad Keselowski Detroit Genuine Parts Ford 334 35 85.7 $136,681 Running
10 9 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 334 34 92.2 $133,651 Running
11 23 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota 334 34 1 79.1 $124,198 Running 1 1
12 30 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet 334 32 78.4 $117,891 Running
13 25 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Juicy Juice Ford 334 31 73.1 $94,850 Running
14 16 21 Ryan Blaney(i) PPG Ford 334 0 86.7 $80,200 Running
15 10 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 334 29 83.1 $115,475 Running
16 17 47 AJ Allmendinger House Autry Chevrolet 334 28 70.3 $114,033 Running
17 18 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Lowes Food Ford 333 28 1 70.8 $117,470 Running 2 22
18 21 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 333 26 68.6 $104,733 Running
19 24 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 333 25 61.7 $88,575 Running
20 2 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Pretty In Pink Foundation Toyota 333 25 1 96.8 $132,066 Running 1 4
21 31 42 Kyle Larson Target Plaid Chevrolet 333 24 1 75.1 $107,258 Running 1 3
22 33 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 332 22 53.2 $120,100 Running
23 34 40 Landon Cassill(i) Carsforsale.com Chevrolet 332 0 51.5 $78,625 Running
24 4 16 Greg Biffle Roush Performance Ford 331 20 63.8 $111,808 Running
25 38 46 Michael Annett Allstate Peterbilt Group Chevrolet 331 19 45.7 $77,945 Running
26 36 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 331 18 54.1 $104,859 Running
27 29 38 David Gilliland MDS Transportation Ford 330 17 50.7 $99,453 Running
28 12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet 330 16 73.6 $93,495 Running
29 40 83 Matt DiBenedetto # Cosmo Motors Toyota 330 15 39.0 $90,028 Running
30 37 34 Brett Moffitt # Dockside Logistics LLC Ford 330 14 39.8 $77,635 Running
31 32 95 Michael McDowell Thrivent Builds Ford 329 13 40.2 $73,420 Running
32 27 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 329 12 43.5 $82,742 Running
33 35 26 JJ Yeley(i) Maxim Toyota 328 0 34.6 $73,070 Running
34 43 33 Alex Kennedy # Chevrolet 326 10 30.3 $72,945 Running
35 42 98 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Ford 325 9 31.8 $72,795 Running
36 26 27 Paul Menard Richmond/Menards Chevrolet 325 8 50.7 $80,615 Running
37 19 55 David Ragan Aaron's Online Dream Machine Toyota 289 7 68.0 $99,695 Engine
38 39 35 Cole Whitt Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Ford 262 6 30.2 $67,602 Accident
39 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Red Vest Chevrolet 257 6 1 96.1 $112,066 Engine 1 2
40 28 51 Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet 251 4 45.2 $67,530 Running
41 41 23 Jeb Burton # Dr Pepper Toyota 244 3 25.4 $55,530 Running
42 1 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 236 3 1 91.7 $124,166 Accident 1 72
43 20 5 Kasey Kahne HendrickRideAlong.com Chevrolet 58 1 41.4 $66,030 Accident
Race Comments: Joey Logano won the Bank of America 500, his 12th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.
Failed to Qualify: (2) 32 Josh Wise, 62 Timmy Hill(i).
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 35 Mins, 05 Secs. Average Speed: 139.760 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.703 Seconds
Caution Flags: 9 for 44 laps: Laps: 2-4 (Debris frontstretch [None]); 27-30 (Competition [98]); 62-65 (#5 accident turn 2 [38]); 76-80 (#88 slow on track [7]); 169-173 (Debris backstretch [47]); 178-181 (Smoke from #20 [15]); 183-189 (Oil on track from #51 [10]); 195-200 (Oil on track [9]); 241-246 (#20 accident turn 3 [17]).
Lead Changes: 14 among 10 drivers: M. Kenseth 0; Kyle Busch 1-4; M. Kenseth 5-76; J. Logano 77-121; J. Johnson 122-123; K. Larson 124-126; C. Edwards 127; J. Logano 128-231; A. Dillon 232; J. Gordon 233; C. Bowyer 234; S. Hornish Jr. 235-241; J. Logano 242-284; S. Hornish Jr. 285-299; J. Logano 300-334.
Top 16 Driver Points: (1) J. Logano 3,048;(2) K. Harvick 3,042;(3) M. Truex Jr. 3,041;(4) D. Hamlin 3,040;(5) Kurt Busch 3,039;(6) C. Edwards 3,039;(7) J. Gordon 3,037;(8) B. Keselowski 3,035;(9) R. Newman 3,029;(10) Kyle Busch 3,025;(11) D. Earnhardt Jr. 3,016;(12) M. Kenseth 3,003;(13) J. Mcmurray 2,130;(14) J. Johnson 2,092;(15) P. Menard 2,083;(16) C. Bowyer 2,082.
3M Lap Leader : Matt Kenseth, #20 73 Laps American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award : Kevin Harvick, #4
Coors Light Pole Award : Matt Kenseth, #20 194.532 mph Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race" : Kyle Busch, #18
Ingersoll Rand Power Move : Aric Almirola, #43 2 positions Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Roush-Yates Engines, #22
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race : Kevin Harvick, #4 Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race : Jeff Gordon, #24 A. Gustafson, -.048 sec
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap : Matt Kenseth, #20 Sunoco Rookie of the Race : Matt DiBenedetto, #83
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: Oct. 18, 2015 - Kansas Speedway
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