Logano leads most laps, drives to eighth win of the season

Joey Logano has had the season that many drivers dream of.

It may be in the Nationwide Series where Logano is intelligible for points, because he is racing for points in the higher-up NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, but he is still having a season where everything seems to go right.

Even when Logano was told that he was going to be as many as six laps short on fuel, everything went just right to give Logano the win in Friday night’s Dollar General 300 from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I should have known better than to question Adam Stevens,” Logano said after the the race in victory lane to ESPN reporters.

Despite leading much of the night, Logano and the rest of the field were going to be a few laps short on fuel.

Logano and his crew chief, Stevens had a tough choice to make, despite being the fastest car, the question was if they were going to take fuel only on the last pit stop or fuel and tires.

The two debated on the radio a bit and decided in the end to get fuel and right side tires, just as many other teams had done.

Although for much of the night the battle for the lead remained tight between three different drivers. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano battled each other for much of the night, but the final pit stop sealed the fate for the race and ended the closeness of the battle for the lead.

Brad Keselowski, who is known as a fuel saver had his chances at the the win evaporate when his final pit stop did not get enough fuel in his car and he had to pit four laps from the end for even more fuel.

That gave second place to Harvick, but by that time, Logano had rocketed to one of the biggest lead of the night, and sealed his first career win at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I moved to the top line and found something,” Logano said after the race. “I got this 20 car rocketing.”

When the battle for the lead was between the top three or sometimes four drivers, it was Logano and the high line that prevailed and kept the speeds of his car up and helped him stay in front of the pack.

In the championship battle, Elliott Sadler, who entered the race with a 9 point lead over last year’s champion, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., left the race with a 13 point lead.

Both drivers lead at least a lap, but neither of them was able to pull away from the field or get to far away from each other. Sadler gained a few positions at the end of the race and expanded his points lead.

Although it was Sadler’s goal at the beginning of the race, which he started from the pole, to get as many points as possible, expanding his points lead by four, with four races left in the season might feel like a win.

Only 10 cars finished on the lead lap, after a few cautions slowed down the pace at the beginning of the night, the race stayed green and several cars fell a lap or more down during the run. Coming to the checkered flag, Logano put his final victim, Danica Patrick a lap down, to reduce the number of cars on the lead lap from 11 to 10.

Dollar General 300 results: