CP MOTORSPORTS - LOGANO DOMINATES AS CHASE CONTENDERS DISSIPATE

 

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(Photo by Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images)
(Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

Joey Logano dominated the rain postponed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on a day which saw mistakes made by many of his fellow Chase competitors.

Leading a race high 227 laps and grabbing his fourth victory of the 2015 season, Logano punched his ticket into the next round of the Chase.

The win is also the first at Charlotte in Logano's career.

"We had a great car," Logano said. "(Crew chief) Todd Gordon and this Shell/Pennzoil team, all of Team Penske, you always want to win it.  Charlotte is everybody’s home turf and you want to make it happen here. What a great car."

Logano made it all the way to the final round of the Chase last season and he knows winning this early in the round is important.

"Obviously we can all talk about Talladega and how special it is to get through to the next round," Logano said. "The pressure that a lot of these drivers are going to have on them and we had on us when this race started to get through to the next round is big. To be able to have that pressure off of us and to be able to relax and enjoy this next round, and don't get me wrong there's still two trophies to win, but to have that pressure off and be able to have our batteries charged up and ready to attack when we get to the next round, that's going to pay big dividends."

(Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

Kevin Harvick dominated in a must win situation last week at Dover and kept his momentum rolling with a second place finish. It's Harvick's 11th runner up finish of the season and the third time he's finished behind Logano.

Harvick, who won this race and the Sprint Cup championship last year, is satisfied despite not winning the race.

"I thought things went well and the guys did a great job on pit road and we were able to capitalize with their solid day and gaining track position," Harvick said. "Car wasn't great all weekend but we were able to make headway on it and make gains and to do the things we needed to do to make it better. In the end that's what you want to do on a day like today and we made a really good day out of it. Obviously you want to win but with so many guys having trouble you want to capitalize on a top-5 run, too.  

"It was definitely one of those days that could have been better but could have been a whole lot worse."

Martin Truex, Jr, brought home a third place finish. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet led the most laps at Charlotte back in May has now notched eight top five finishes this season - a new career high.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 11, 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/NASCAR via Getty Images)

Truex knows elimination looms for everyone but the winner.

"Talladega is still there," Truex, Jr, explained. "Third is great and all, but it's no guarantee."

Chase contenders owned the top six positions as Denny Hamlin grabbed a fourth place finish followed by Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.

Austin Dillon, who is not in contention for the title, finished in seventh place with Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola rounding out the top ten.

However, the day was challenging for many of the Chase front runners mainly Joe Gibbs Racing's Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth started from the pole and led 72 laps made a huge mistake sliding through his pit box forcing him back in the 20th spot on the ensuing restart. After falling back in the pack, Kenseth appeared to make contact with the No. 31 Chevrolet of Ryan Newman which sent Kenseth into the wall.

Kenseth's day would end earlier than expected after a broken part caused him to make hard contact the wall again. Kenseth, who won the first race of the Chase, finished in 42nd place and now sits in last on the Chase grid.

"Everything kind of snowballed," Kenseth said. "This is the best I can do. It's amazing I have a job. One thing led to another and then another."

Kyle Busch shared the front row with his JGR teammate Kenseth but did not fare much better as he could only manage a 20th place finish. Busch's downfall happened as he was running third under caution. Busch appeared to fake a dive onto pit road at the same time Kyle Larson, running second, was attempting to enter pit road.

Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, pulls into the garage in his damaged car during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 11, 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

The pair collided and forced both to the back of the pack for the remainder of the race. Larson, who is not Chase eligible, apologized over the radio and accepted blame for the incident.

“I feel like an idiot really. It’s super embarrassing to wreck on pit road like that,” Larson said. “I hate it for the 18 team they were really strong all day. I just feel really bad. I hope I didn’t cause them to miss the next round.”

Busch knows the finish puts his team in a precarious situation.

"It's tough," Busch said. "We're going to have to battle through with what we've got right now,"

As much as Sunday's race was tough on JGR, it was equally as tough on their Hendrick Motorsports counterparts. Kasey Kahne, who is not in the Chase, hit the wall twice after tire problems and went into the garage just 58 laps in the books.

Kahne's HMS teammate and Chase contender Dale Earnhardt, Jr, appeared to make contact with the wall after getting together with Carl Edwards. While Earnhardt, Jr, tried to continue on he made contact with the wall a second time and forced him to the back of the field.

Earnhardt, Jr, finished one lap down in the 28th spot.

Fresh off being eliminated from the Chase last week at Dover, Jimmie Johnson's struggles continued. While Johnson appeared to have a frontrunning car early, oil pump issue forced him out of the race and into the 39th place finishing position.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 30
Unofficial Race Results for the 56Th Annual Bank Of America 500 - Saturday,
October 10, 2015
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 334 Laps - 501 Miles - Purse: $5,306,331
Leader
Fin    Str    Car    Driver    Team    Laps    Pts    Bns    Driver Rating    Winnings    Status    Tms    Laps
1    3    22    Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    334    48    5    146.4    $329,873    Running    4    227
2    11    4    Kevin Harvick    Jimmy John's/Budweiser Chevrolet    334    42        119.2    $240,750    Running        
3    15    78    Martin Truex Jr.    Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet    334    41        105.8    $172,320    Running        
4    5    11    Denny Hamlin    FedEx Ground Toyota    334    40        115.0    $147,225    Running        
5    6    41    Kurt Busch    State Water Heaters Chevrolet    334    39        107.2    $139,150    Running        
6    8    19    Carl Edwards    Stanley Toyota    334    39    1    99.1    $117,040    Running    1    1
7    14    3    Austin Dillon    DOW - Great Stuff Chevrolet    334    38    1    103.5    $141,151    Running    1    1
8    22    24    Jeff Gordon    3M Chevrolet    334    37    1    85.7    $144,701    Running    1    1
9    13    2    Brad Keselowski    Detroit Genuine Parts Ford    334    35        85.7    $136,681    Running        
10    9    43    Aric Almirola    Smithfield Ford    334    34        92.2    $133,651    Running        
11    23    15    Clint Bowyer    5-hour Energy Toyota    334    34    1    79.1    $124,198    Running    1    1
12    30    1    Jamie McMurray    McDonald's Chevrolet    334    32        78.4    $117,891    Running        
13    25    17    Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Juicy Juice Ford    334    31        73.1    $94,850    Running        
14    16    21    Ryan Blaney(i)    PPG Ford    334    0        86.7    $80,200    Running        
15    10    31    Ryan Newman    Caterpillar Chevrolet    334    29        83.1    $115,475    Running        
16    17    47    AJ Allmendinger    House Autry Chevrolet    334    28        70.3    $114,033    Running        
17    18    9    Sam Hornish Jr.    Lowes Food Ford    333    28    1    70.8    $117,470    Running    2    22
18    21    13    Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet    333    26        68.6    $104,733    Running        
19    24    10    Danica Patrick    GoDaddy Chevrolet    333    25        61.7    $88,575    Running        
20    2    18    Kyle Busch    M&M's Pretty In Pink Foundation Toyota    333    25    1    96.8    $132,066    Running    1    4
21    31    42    Kyle Larson    Target Plaid Chevrolet    333    24    1    75.1    $107,258    Running    1    3
22    33    6    Trevor Bayne    AdvoCare Ford    332    22        53.2    $120,100    Running        
23    34    40    Landon Cassill(i)    Carsforsale.com Chevrolet    332    0        51.5    $78,625    Running        
24    4    16    Greg Biffle    Roush Performance Ford    331    20        63.8    $111,808    Running        
25    38    46    Michael Annett    Allstate Peterbilt Group Chevrolet    331    19        45.7    $77,945    Running        
26    36    14    Tony Stewart    Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet    331    18        54.1    $104,859    Running        
27    29    38    David Gilliland    MDS Transportation Ford    330    17        50.7    $99,453    Running        
28    12    88    Dale Earnhardt Jr.    Nationwide Chevrolet    330    16        73.6    $93,495    Running        
29    40    83    Matt DiBenedetto #    Cosmo Motors Toyota    330    15        39.0    $90,028    Running        
30    37    34    Brett Moffitt #    Dockside Logistics LLC Ford    330    14        39.8    $77,635    Running        
31    32    95    Michael McDowell    Thrivent Builds Ford    329    13        40.2    $73,420    Running        
32    27    7    Alex Bowman    Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet    329    12        43.5    $82,742    Running        
33    35    26    JJ Yeley(i)    Maxim Toyota    328    0        34.6    $73,070    Running        
34    43    33    Alex Kennedy #    Chevrolet    326    10        30.3    $72,945    Running        
35    42    98    Reed Sorenson    Premium Motorsports Ford    325    9        31.8    $72,795    Running        
36    26    27    Paul Menard    Richmond/Menards Chevrolet    325    8        50.7    $80,615    Running        
37    19    55    David Ragan    Aaron's Online Dream Machine Toyota    289    7        68.0    $99,695    Engine        
38    39    35    Cole Whitt    Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Ford    262    6        30.2    $67,602    Accident        
39    7    48    Jimmie Johnson    Lowe's Red Vest Chevrolet    257    6    1    96.1    $112,066    Engine    1    2
40    28    51    Justin Allgaier    Brandt Chevrolet    251    4        45.2    $67,530    Running        
41    41    23    Jeb Burton #    Dr Pepper Toyota    244    3        25.4    $55,530    Running        
42    1    20    Matt Kenseth    Dollar General Toyota    236    3    1    91.7    $124,166    Accident    1    72
43    20    5    Kasey Kahne    HendrickRideAlong.com Chevrolet    58    1        41.4    $66,030    Accident        
 Race Comments:    Joey Logano won the Bank of America 500, his 12th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.  
 Failed to Qualify:    (2) 32 Josh Wise, 62 Timmy Hill(i).
 Time of Race:    3 Hrs, 35 Mins, 05 Secs.    Average Speed:    139.760 MPH    Margin of Victory:    0.703 Seconds
 Caution Flags:    9 for 44 laps: Laps: 2-4 (Debris frontstretch [None]); 27-30 (Competition [98]); 62-65 (#5 accident turn 2 [38]); 76-80 (#88 slow on track [7]); 169-173 (Debris backstretch [47]); 178-181 (Smoke from #20 [15]); 183-189 (Oil on track from #51 [10]); 195-200 (Oil on track [9]); 241-246 (#20 accident turn 3 [17]).
 Lead Changes:    14 among 10 drivers: M. Kenseth 0; Kyle Busch 1-4; M. Kenseth 5-76; J. Logano 77-121; J. Johnson 122-123; K. Larson 124-126; C. Edwards 127; J. Logano 128-231; A. Dillon 232; J. Gordon 233; C. Bowyer 234; S. Hornish Jr. 235-241; J. Logano 242-284; S. Hornish Jr. 285-299; J. Logano 300-334.
Top 16 Driver Points:     (1) J. Logano 3,048;(2) K. Harvick 3,042;(3) M. Truex Jr. 3,041;(4) D. Hamlin 3,040;(5) Kurt Busch 3,039;(6) C. Edwards 3,039;(7) J. Gordon 3,037;(8) B. Keselowski 3,035;(9) R. Newman 3,029;(10) Kyle Busch 3,025;(11) D. Earnhardt Jr. 3,016;(12) M. Kenseth 3,003;(13) J. Mcmurray 2,130;(14) J. Johnson 2,092;(15) P. Menard 2,083;(16) C. Bowyer 2,082.
3M Lap Leader    : Matt Kenseth, #20 73 Laps    American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award    : Kevin Harvick, #4
Coors Light Pole Award    : Matt Kenseth, #20 194.532 mph    Duralast Brakes "Brake in the Race"    : Kyle Busch, #18
Ingersoll Rand Power Move    : Aric Almirola, #43 2 positions    Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race    : Roush-Yates Engines, #22
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race    : Kevin Harvick, #4     Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race    : Jeff Gordon, #24 A. Gustafson, -.048 sec
Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap    : Matt Kenseth, #20     Sunoco Rookie of the Race    : Matt DiBenedetto, #83
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race:    Oct. 18, 2015 - Kansas Speedway
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