Penske Racing driver Joey Logano utilized a late-race restart to sour from fifth to the lead Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway to win the Toyota Owners 400 and claim his second win of the season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The triumph also all but assured Logano a permanent position in the Chase.
Matt Kenseth led the field to green on Lap 392 and withstood challenges from Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., but as the finished neared, the intensity picked up and Logano planted his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion to the point on Lap 397 and never looked back to claim his fifth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in 192 starts.
Behind Logano, Gordon, the dominate Hendrick Motorsports car finished second after leading 173 Laps, followed by Kyle Busch, who came to pit road under the final yellow for four fresh tires and stormed through the pack utilizing the high line to finish third, ahead of Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth to round out the top-five.
“I had a terrible restart the one before the last one (on Lap 382), and then we had a good one (on the final restart on lap 392), but the 88 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) in front of me didn’t have the best, and once we started racing there were three cars in front of me and I thought I had a shot still,” Logano said. “The 20 (Kenseth) started blocking the top because the 2 car (Keselowski) was so fast up top for the first 10 laps of a run, and eventually I had enough room to turn up underneath him and get enough clean air on the car to take off.
“This isn’t a very good race track for me in the past, but we had a really good Shell Pennzoil Ford today, and we were able to put it in Victory Lane. This is so cool to win two races already this season, and it’s just going to be one heck of a season, and I can’t wait to get to the race track next week.”
The action was heavy at the end of the ninth race of the season, but it was just as steamy at the beginning. Kyle Larson, who netted the pole on Friday afternoon after Mother Nature washed away qualifying led the field to green, but never made it back around, as contact between he and Clint Bowyer sent the No. 42 Axe Chevrolet SS around in Turn 1. The rookie escaped without any serious damage, but lost all of his track position.
After the spin, 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski inherited the lead and held it until Kevin Harvick took his No. 4 Outback Chevrolet SS to the lead on Lap 32 until the competition caution on Lap 42. From there, the teams battled the Goodyear tires the rest of the night, while the lead exchanged hands between Harvick, Keselowski and Gordon through the race’s first 242 laps.
Logano entered the picture for the first time on Lap 243 and shot his Penske Racing Ford to the top-spot for nine laps, before Gordon reassumed command for 47 laps, when Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. put his No. 88 National Guard up front after pit stops following the sixth caution flag.
Logano took the lead from Earnhardt Jr. on Lap 306 for 32 laps, when Gordon pounded the pavement and blasted his Hendrick Motorsports entry back to security on Lap 338. Meanwhile, Matt Kenseth, who struggled with the handling of his No. 20 Home Depot / Husky Toyota Camry early on slithered through the field and stole command from the four-time champion on Lap 362.
Two more cautions, one for debris on Lap 369 and another for a three-car incident between Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers would begin to setup the chaotic end of the 60th annual Toyota Owners 400.
On the final restart of the night, taking advantage of beating and banging in front of him during a nine –lap green-flag run to the finish, Logano surged from the fifth starting spot to his second victory of the season. He also won at Texas Motor Speedway in the Duck Commander 500.
It was a race that had everything, from a spin by polesitter Larson in the first corner of the first lap (after contact from Clint Bowyer’s Toyota), to right-side tires that corded under stress and turned the wheels into flame throwers, to fiery tempers that continued after the checkered flag.
Keselowski and Kenseth swapped sheet metal and exchanged pleasantries on the cool-down lap. Casey nineteenth-place finisher Casey Mears shoved 18th-place Marcos Ambrose after the race—a carryover from a late racing incident—and in return took a right hook that wobbled him.
Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition, said the sanctioning body would review the Mears/Ambrose incident during the week but indicated he didn’t think it was anything “too severe.”
Six-time and defending champion Jimmie Johnson was strong for most of the race, but succumbed to tire issues in the second-half and finished a frustrating 32nd.
Jeff Gordon still winless in 2014 leads the championship standings by five markers over Matt Kenseth.
Next up for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is the first of two trips to the 2.66-mile superspeedway for the running of the Aaron’s 499 on Sunday, May 4. David Ragan of Front Row Motorsports is the defending champion of the event.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
Editor’s Note: Reid Spencer of the NASCAR Wire Service contributed to this report
