WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — When he won the pole Saturday morning for the NASCAR XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International, Joey Logano appeared to be primed to make history by becoming the first driver to win the event from the pole in three consecutive years.
But after losing the lead to Kyle Busch in the opening corners and then battling a fading race car over the long runs of the 200-mile event, Logano’s quest for history came up one spot short, as he was beat out by Busch in the closing stages and had to settle for second.
A caution for a stopped Casey Mears at the exit of the Carousel (Turn 5) with six laps left set up a three-lap scramble to the finish, in which Logano restarted third and shoved Busch out to the lead before being left to deal with his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski over the final 7.36 miles.
While he found his way around Keselowski in Turn 6 on the penultimate lap, Logano could only watch helplessly as Busch darted away to a 1.049 seconds advantage at the checkered flag.
“It’s was fun,” Logano said of the battle with Keselowski. “Dang, I wish it had been for the win and not for second, though. I had such a good short run car; we were just in the wrong position to start that last run. I feel like if I was second I could have won the race. I just had a really good short run car.”
“Our long run speed was off a bit and that’s when the (Nos.) 18 and 22 would drive by us and we were a third-place car on the long run but probably a winning car on the short run. By time I cleared Brad, the 18 was gone. If we had another four or five laps (he would have drove off again). I needed another caution.”
Though it was his fifth top-five and seventh top-10 in eight XFINITY starts this season, Logano said he felt Saturday’s race was a win that “got away” due to circumstances.
“We were a third place car on the long run and maybe a first place car for the first two laps of every run,” he said. “It just depended on what type of race we had. We had some issues on pit road with a lug nut getting stuck behind a wheel and lost a lot of track position. Once we got to third I went into cruise control to save my stuff and hope for a late-race restart and boom, we had one.”
“I thought it was my chance but just couldn’t accelerate as good as Kyle (Busch) and wasn’t able to stay with him. I ran that whole last run at maybe 70 percent. I was just trying to save something for the end of the race. Getting through the gears, he was just better than us. We were so close to that three in a row … but overall, to start in first and finish second; second hurts a little bit.”
However, Logano did take a positive away from Saturday’s near-miss, in that he learned things he can hopefully apply to a victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday.
“Anytime you can run one of these things and be up front; it feels like the old days again. It’s a good confidence builder for me and the pit crew and everybody. To be up there, I need to have a good car for tomorrow that we can do something similar to what we did today with. It’s just a good day overall to keep the momentum rolling.”
“So yeah, I learned some things for tomorrow, which is important … and we’ll go at it again.”
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
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