At Texas Motor Speedway, Joey Logano showed how one can go from the outhouse to the penthouse in a week’s time.
One week after being disqualified from his fifth-place finish at Talladega, Logano put together a strong surge in the Wurth 400’s closing laps to claim his first victory this season and the 37th of his career. Logano’s overtime victory provided Team Penske with its second victory in as many weeks. Austin Cindric won at Talladega.
“The sport changes so quickly,” said Logano, who led twice for seven laps in the race that had 20 lead changes among 13 drivers. “It’s crazy how you can just ride these roller coasters.”
Logano, who started 27th in the 38-car field, never led until lap 264 of the 271-lap race. He said he moved through the field “slowly, methodically, a couple at a time.”
“We had a really tough pit stall situation,” Logano said. “The pit crew did a good job of managing that.”
Logano’s first victory at the 1.5-mile Texas track in 11 years made him the ninth different Cup winner in the last nine years at the speedway. It also marked his first top-five finish this season. Previously, his best finish was eighth at Martinsville.
While Logano celebrated, teammate Ryan Blaney criticized himself for making the wrong choice on a restart that he felt cost him the lead.
“The one time I didn’t pick the outside, the 71 (Michael McDowell) gets the lead, and then I couldn’t get it back,” a dejected Blaney said after his third-place finish. “Just driver making dumb decisions and not doing his job. Just can’t do nothing right currently, so hopefully it will work itself out.”
Blaney led twice for two laps.
Bummer for Larson
Kyle Larson was the Wurth 400’s top lap leader, setting the pace on four occasions for 90 of the 271-lap race that Joey Logano won in overtime at Texas Motor Speedway. However, a mistimed restart following the ninth of 12 caution periods cost him the lead and he could never recover.
“You don’t want to give up the lead on a mile-and-a-half. It’s hard to get it back,” Larson said after finishing fourth. “Michael (McDowell) just did a good job timing it. I left early the restart before and was going to leave early again the.
“He just anticipated and left probably right with me or just barely before, and he had (Tyler) Reddick pushing him behind him. Wish I could go back and do that all over again. Just bummer but try to learn from it.”
Hamlin’s Streak Ends
Denny Hamlin entered Texas Motor Speedway’s Wurth 400 with 21 consecutive lead-lap finishes, but that streak ended Sunday in a fiery incident on lap 75.
After telling his Joe Gibbs Racing crew he had an engine problem, his Toyota erupted in flames as he entered turn 1. He spun the car but flames engulfed the underside of the car.
“It was blowing up for about a lap or so before it really detonated,” said Hamlin, who finished last. “I tried to keep it off to keep it from full detonating (so they could diagnose what happened to it.)”
Hamlin said he’s not sure why there are so many engine problems in the Cup Series this year.
“I’ve had blown engines in two or three seasons in a row now where we didn’t have any issues several years prior to that,” Hamlin said. “Just trying to develop I’m guessing and trying to get more. Certainly, we feel like we need to get a bit more power, but this was unexpected for us.”
Top 10s for Legacy Motor Club
Erik Jones recorded a fifth-place finish for his first top five this season, while Legacy Motor Club teammate John Hunter Nemechek placed eighth, but it wasn’t a smooth race.
“It was a sloppy day in a lot of ways,” Jones said. “We had two pit road penalties, but just happy to come back from it and get a top five. It would have been pretty disappointing to have a car this good, kind of our first car this year that’s been pretty strong to throw it away.
“It’s been a long road. Last year was tough and this yar stated out a little bit tough and we’ve had our ups and downs.”
Nemechek noted his team unloaded with speed at Texas “which was nice.”
“It was and up-and-down day for us,” Nemechek said. “Just kind of all over the place with what we had. The last couple of restarts were tough with the positions that we were in. I’ve got to get better from a driver’s standpoint racing up towards the front, but I haven’t had any chances at that, so progressing and learning.”
Results
NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400
Texas Motor Speedway
1. (27) Joey Logano, Ford, 271.
2. (31) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 271.
3. (24) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 271.
4. (4) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 271.
5. (14) Erik Jones, Toyota, 271.
6. (34) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 271.
7. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 271.
8. (28) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 271.
9. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 271.
10. (25) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 271.
11. (32) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 271.
12. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 271.
13. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 271.
14. (21) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 271.
15. (15) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 271.
16. (29) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 271.
17. (13) Zane Smith, Ford, 271.
18. (12) Chris Buescher, Ford, 271.
19. (20) Cole Custer, Ford, 271.
20. (26) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 271.
21. (17) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 271.
22. (37) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 271.
23. (6) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 271.
24. (1) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 270.
25. (3) Austin Cindric, Ford, 268.
26. (5) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, Accident, 265.
27. (22) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, Suspension, 254.
28. (30) Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 246.
29. (33) Ryan Preece, Ford, Accident, 237.
30. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 237.
31. (35) Jesse Love(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 217.
32. (7) Josh Berry, Ford, 187.
33. (9) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 179.
34. (18) Noah Gragson, Ford, Accident, 172.
35. (11) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, Accident, 172.
36. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 172.
37. (38) Chad Finchum, Ford, Accident, 167.
38. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Engine, 73.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 116.885 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 28 Mins, 40 Secs. Margin of Victory: .346 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 73 laps.
Lead Changes: 20 among 13 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Hocevar 1-22;D. Hamlin 23;A. Cindric 24-73;T. Reddick 74;A. Cindric 75-83;J. Berry 84-124;K. Larson 125-126;A. Cindric 127;T. Gilliland 128-131;K. Larson 132-166;A. Bowman 167;W. Byron 168-189;K. Larson 190-220;J. Nemechek 221;K. Larson 222-243;M. McDowell 244-252;R. Blaney 253;M. McDowell 254-263;J. Logano 264-268;R. Blaney 269;J. Logano 270-271.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson 4 times for 90 laps; Austin Cindric 3 times for 60 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 41 laps; William Byron 1 time for 22 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 22 laps; Michael McDowell 2 times for 19 laps; Joey Logano 2 times for 7 laps; Todd Gilliland 1 time for 4 laps; Ryan Blaney 2 times for 2 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 1 lap; John Hunter Nemechek 1 time for 1 lap; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 1 lap; Alex Bowman 1 time for 1 lap.
