Even though Joey Logano hasn’t run the full NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule, he has been dominate in virtually every single race he’s competed in 2012. Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway was no exception. Logano, driver of the No. 20 GameStop / Call of Duty Black Ops II Toyota Camry collected his eighth win of the season in the Dollar General 300.
Logano’s Joe Gibbs Racing team persevered through a late round of green flag pit stops for fuel to take his inaugural win at the 1.5-mile oval. Crew chief Adam Stevens elected to take two right side tires in addition to the fuel which ultimately helped in the success towards eclipsing the checkered flag.
“We had to work for this — the 22 (Brad Keselowski) was pretty good in the mid-part of the race. He made some good adjustments — I found a new line and was able to make this GameStop Toyota fast enough to win. It was really cool to win a Dollar General race — that is one of our sponsors here at Joe Gibbs Racing. Cool to win that race for them,” a jubliant Logano offered.
Kevin Harvick in the No. 33 Rheem / Menards Chevrolet Impala finished second with points leader Elliott Sadler taking third. Kyle Busch in his own No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry claimed fourth while Denny Hamlin in the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Camry rounded out the top-five.
Rookie Austin Dillon took sixth while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who failed to overcome a miscue in the pits in the latter stages had to settle for seventh while Brian Scott surged to eighth with James Buescher leading the Turner Motorsports brigade in ninth with Michael Annett for Richard Petty Motorsports comprising the top-10.
Stenhouse Jr., the reigning Nationwide champion even vented his frustration over the radio to crew chief Mike Kelley as the leader of the No. 6 Cargrill Ford Mustang was informing his driver of his lap times when Stenhouse Jr. abruptly asked Kelley to stop delivering lap times in a-agitated tone.
“We decided we were gonna try to fix the spoiler,” said Stenhouse. “ I got in the wall on the first lap of that run and bent the spoiler back a little bit. We were running third there and came in and tried to fix it right there at the last second. We lost a bunch of track position and the car didn’t really drive as well in the back as it was when we were running up front. The Cargill Beef Mustang was a little bit better today, but we just made a mistake on a pit stop and we’ll go back and get ‘em next week at Kansas. We’ll just keep pushing forward. I’ve got to thank NOS, Nationwide Insurance and everybody that helps us do this every week in this series we run in. It’s a lot of fun. It’s disappointing at times, but we’ll come back and get ‘em. There are four races left, so there’s still a lot of time.”
Danica Patrick had an extremely competitive night in the No. 7 GoDaddy.org Chevrolet Impala finishing a strong 11th. She stayed on the lead lap all night long but lost that status on the final turn of the race when Hamlin soared to her outside.
Reed Sorenson in his No. 98 Carroll Shelby Motors Ford Mustang rose from his 29th starting spot to claim a commendable 12th place run. Cole Whitt in his back-up No. 88 Hellman’s Chevrolet Impala was 13th with Ryan Blaney and Brad Sweet tagging onto the rear of the top-15.
Jeff Green, Joe Nemechek, front-runner Brad Keselowski, Jeremy Clements and Robert Richardson Jr. closed out the top-20. Keselowski was in contention for another top-five if not a win in the No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T but his Penske Racing team neglected to fill the gas tank to run the distance thus sending the Michigan native back to pit road in the winding laps.
“It was very fast,” offered Keselowski. “We certainly had a car to win with the Discount Tire Dodge. Discount Tire does tires, not gas so they’ve got that part right (smiles). Just didn’t have any gas there at the end and they won’t run without that.”
Other notables in the back of the field included: Mike Wallace (23rd), David Starr (25th), Jeffrey Earnhardt (27th), Jason Bowles (28th) and Stanton Barrett (30th).
John Wes Townley in the No. 99 Zaxby’s Toyota Camry was having a strong night for his RAB Racing team but they succumbed to tire issues just past halfway and finished 32nd.
Sam Hornish Jr. and Justin Allgaier’s on-track run-ins continued Friday night as the two made serious contact coming out of turn two on lap 13. Both drivers would have to take their battered machines to the garage for repairs. They returned and finished 34th and 35th respectively.
Angela Cope’s night was done before the completion of lap one. A slow start towards the rear of the field caused Cope’s Toyota to crush the rear of the No. 87 of Joe Nemechek spewing water from her radiator and ultimately ceasing her night. She was credited with a 43rd place finish and zero laps completed.
Unofficially, Sadler extends his championship lead to 13 points with just four races remaining on the 2012 calendar.
Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is a stop at Kansas Speedway, next Saturday October 20 for the running of the Kansas Lottery 300. After a complete repavement of the track’s 1.5-mile surface, an on-track test for the series is set for Thursday, October 18.
