NSCS: Logano Takes Dominating Michigan Victory

He was nearly impassable throughout the entire race, and had to survive a late restart with two eager youngsters in toe, but Joey Logano won the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Logano started on the pole and led 139 of 200 laps en route to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the season, and the 15th win of his career.

A lower downforce package with a smaller spoiler and shorter front end splitter made cars looser, and drivers struggled to make passes. The loose conditions were tested right off the bat for Logano as the No. 22 got loose on the initial start of the race, which caused him to drop from the lead to fourth. Martin Truex, Jr. took advantage of Logano’s issues and pounced to the lead.

The lead for the No. 78 of Truex wouldn’t last long as Logano made his way around second-and-third-place runners Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart before catching and passing Truex for the lead on Lap 11.

Logano went on to continue to dominate the race while big names such as Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and AJ Allmendinger ran into problems and dropped out of the race. A caution with 12 laps to go for a wreck by Denny Hamlin changed the game, however. Logano was forced to hound off a hard-charging rookie in Chase Elliott and a fast Kyle Larson in order to secure the win.

Logano got an excellent restart, as he did at various points throughout the race, and rocketed away from the youngsters behind him. The Team Penske driver got away from Elliott to a lead over just under a second, and cruised to the win. It was his first win of the year, and Team Penske’s third.

“Ford, this is in their backyard,” said Logano. “This is Roger’s (Penske) backyard. This is a great place to win. Obviously, being in the backyard of Ford, it means so much.”

Rookie Chase Elliott finished second for a career-best result, however it was a result Elliott still wasn’t pleased with. Elliott led 35 laps, but said he made a “dumb mistake” on a late restart while leading that cost him the race.

“Putting it in the right gear would be a good start,” Elliott said after the race.

A lot like Elliott has in recent weeks, Kyle Larson has come close to winning his first career race, but is yet to close the deal. Larson led one lap during green-flag pit stops. Larson ran up front throughout most of the race, but the 23-year-old just never seemed to have a strong enough car to contend for the win. The third-place was Larson’s third top-five of the year.

Rochester Hills, MI native Brad Keselowski finished fourth after leading 10 laps early in the race. Keselowski ran towards the front for a majority of the race, but like the No. 42, he just didn’t seem strong enough to hang with his teammate up front. Keselowski already has two wins this year, but the Michigan native was looking to get his first win at his hometrack.

Rounding out the top-five was Kevin Harvick. Harvick struggled during most of the race after bad luck in qualifying forced him to start 29th. Harvick wasn’t able to get his car inside the top-20 until the first round of pit stops, and couldn’t even break into the top-10 until the closing stages of the race. Harvick got as far up as third on a late restart, but settled for fifth on the day.

Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-10. For Stewart, it was his best run of the year after returning from an injury during the offseason. The veteran whom is due to retire at the end of the season started third and ran inside the top-five throughout most of the race before falling to seventh in the closing stages of the race.

Among those finishing outside the top-10 included a number of heavy hitters: Ryan Newman finished 11th, Martin Truex, Jr. in 12th, Kasey Kahne in 13th, Matt Kenseth in 14th, Jimmie Johnson in 16th, Denny Hamlin in 33rd following a late wreck, and AJ Allmendinger, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kyle Busch finishing 38th through 40th. Busch blew an engine on Lap 52 after debris on his grille caused terminal damage.

The Sprint Cup Series has an off-weekend next week and will return to action in two weeks when drivers go left and right at Sonoma Raceway.