5 hours Ago
The NASCAR Cup race at Texas unraveled in the final stage with several twists and turns at the sharp end of the running order. But when the smoke cleared, it was Joey Logano (who started 27th) taking the race win. Ross Chastain , who started even deeper in the field (31st), ended up as the runner-up.
Logano got the lead in dramatic fashion with just four laps to go. Hanging on with two older left-side tires, Michael McDowell blocked Logano all the way to the apron as he tried to snag a win for the underdogs. The always-aggressive Logano never lifted and McDowell relented before corner entry, giving him the inside line and the race lead.
Soon after, McDowell lost control and slammed the outside wall, pushing the race into overtime. On the restart, Logano had to hold back his Penske teammate Ryan Blaney and Chastain, who snatched second away but was unable to run down Logano. In the end, he led just the final seven laps.
"This sport changes so quickly," said Logano, who now has 37 career Cup wins. "It's crazy. You can just ride these rollercoasters and just proud of the team.
Finally got AAA Insurance into Victory Lane. They've been a partner of mine for 13, 14 years and we've yet to win with them. Awesome to get that done for them here .
.. It's going to be a fun night.
" On how he was able to fight his way through the pack, Logano said, "Slowly, methodically, a couple at a time. We had a really tough pit stall situation. The pit crew did a good job of managing that and just grabbing a couple here and there.
The car was fast. I just did a poor job qualifying. Just grinding it out and eventually, got a win here.
Nice to get one." For Chastain, this stands as his best result of the season and his fourth top ten in the last five races. Blaney, who finished third, is now the only Penske driver without a win this season.
Austin Cindric claimed victory one week ago at Talladega Superspeedway. Kyle Larson finished fourth and Erik Jones fifth while the rest of the top ten was as follows: Ricky Stenhouse Jr ., Austin Dillon , John Hunter Nemechek , Christopher Bell , and Daniel Suarez .
A flurry of wrecks in the final stage The early portion of the race saw Denny Hamlin become the first of many drivers to record a DNF when his car went up in flames. Cindric won the opening stage of the event while Larson went on to win the second stage. But it was in that final stage where complete madness took hold of the tricky intermediate track.
William Byron was in control of the lead when he began a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Several other drivers followed him down, but a spin with 48 laps to go by Xfinity Series regular Jesse Love (who was making just his second Cup start) completely threw the race out of whack. Ryan Preece nearly inherited the race lead due to the timing of his pit stop, but scoring displayed him as falling one lap down (barely) before exiting the pit lane.
The caution also trapped several other contenders deep in the pack including Byron, CIndric, pole-sitter Carson Hocevar and defending winner Chase Elliott . As the remaining lead lap cars filed down pit road, the No. 71 Spire Motorsports team made the bold decision to only take two tires with McDowell, vaulting him up to second on track.
The restart that followed would be the first of many as Larson led the way. Kyle Busch was having a strong run in third, but like Josh Berry earlier in the day, he ran over the troublesome bump in the higher lane in Turn 4, sending his car careening into the outside wall. The next caution claimed the race's pole-sitter as Hocevar pushed wide at the exit of Turn 2, crashing himself, Preece, and Cody Ware in the process.
Just before that yellow flag flew, Blaney had made his way around McDowell for the runner-up spot, but strangely chose to give up the front row for the restart and choose the inside of the second row. That was clearly a mistake as McDowell surged ahead of Larson, stunningly taking the race lead as another wreck broke out mid-pack, collecting Brad Keselowski , Cole Custer , Cindric, and Busch. The race became caution-plagued with Tyler Reddick triggering the next caution, despite miraculously saving his car after getting turned from behind.
The final ten laps had arrived and McDowell now had the Penske duo directly behind him. He was unable to hold off their charge, ultimately wrecking out of the race as he got loose in the dirty air behind Blaney. Oddly enough, the final restart was one of the calmest as Logano captured the checkered flag in front of Chastain and Blaney with little drama.
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