Logano wins at Charlotte to advance in NASCAR’s Chase

It came in the opening race of the second round of the Chase and earned him the programmed billet into the following round.

The race was rained out Saturday night and run instead in the middle of the day Sunday, and it ended with Logano beating reigning Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick to the finish line by 0.704 seconds. They didn’t run the package at Charlotte and the racing was still atrocious.

Brown also won the first moto of the 250 Pro race, although Iowa rider Cameron McAdoo took the overall title after winning the second moto.

Joey Logano: Shhh, don’t disturb Logano, who said he’ll be sleeping soundly after clinching spot in Chase’s round of eight with victory at Charlotte. I’ve raced this (expletive) for 20 years, I know what oil and speedy dry is. That could make for a tough final six weeks of the season if problematic days for championship drivers is the only reason to watch. “It shows that our team picked up what we needed to”. Busch fell to 10th on the Chase Gird and is 10 points outside of the cutoff while Earnhardt is 11th and 19 behind.

The new deal marks a return to Nascar for the Busch brand, which has not appeared as a primary sponsor in the Sprint Cup since 1980. He tried to continue on with damage to his Chevrolet, but a tire problem sent him into the wall again and to pit road for repairs on Lap 85. As Larson darted, Busch, in third, faked as if he was pitting before turning back onto the racing surface. As a result, he went two laps down.

Things would only snowball for Busch from there, as an oil slick later caused him and others to slam the Turn 2 wall. “So thanks to NASCAR for cleaning that up”.

Busch finished 20th and he and Kenseth are now in the bottom four of the Chase standings.

“Just can’t say enough about my guys…” “I think most people didn’t even have us moving through the first round”.

Earnhardt hit the wall several times Sunday and finished 28th. While struggling to get back to the clean air at the front, Kenseth couldn’t get his auto to handle in traffic and eventually tagged the rear of Chase contender Ryan Newman, hit the wall and was forced to retire, finishing 42nd.

Earnhardt Jr. ran afoul of an aggressive passing maneuver in Turn 1 as well – but not his own.

Following a Goodyear tire test at the 1.5-mile track last month, the team addressed a few issues and his confidence is at an all-time high for his return this weekend. He could live one day at a time a subsequent a couple of speeds up, in the knowledge that his overall performance a further week or so at Charlotte didn’t really count as well as a spoil at Talladega wouldn’t spoil his competition expects. “Don’t worry about that”. I mean, we don’t have to go to Talladega and be nervous like those guys that are going to have to play it safe.

“I couldn’t be more contented with the whole endeavor that most of us lay out there”, Gordon said.

“We looked everywhere. We all did our jobs, and actually had a human being, protected by the trucks, walking that area to make sure”.

“It was just hard work and a never-give-up attitude”.

While he was thrilled to win the race, he was equally relieved to know his playoff hopes won’t rely on surviving next week’s race at NASCAR’s most notorious minefield, Talladega Superspeedway.