LDN - Sports

Logano scorches final lap to win in Vegas

[February 24, 2020] Not having one of his cars in the championship field of four last November was simply unacceptable for NASCAR Cup Series team owner Roger Penske. So, in the offseason he shook things up by changing around the crews of all three of his teams.

In Sunday's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Penske's moves looked genius as Joey Logano pulled away from the field on the final lap to get the victory.

"Boy, we fought hard for this one today," Logano said. "Man, this is a huge win and it's nice to kick off the season with a W."

The win was the second for Logano at the 1.5-mile Vegas oval with the other coming a year ago. He led 54 laps of the 267 laps. On his pit box was Paul Wolfe, who led Brad Keselowski to a season championship in 2012.

"He (Wolfe) does such a good job and it has been good getting to know each other, boy, with the whole team," Logano said. "The pit crew was amazing today. I think we gained a spot every time."

Aiding Logano was not pitting during a caution on the final laps. The decision to stay out while other contenders pitted was wrapped in confusion.

"I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do," Logano said. "There was a little confusion, but it worked out really well. A lot of cars stayed out and that was key to that move."

Finishing second was Matt DiBenedetto, driving in just his second race for the famed Wood Brothers racing team.

"This is all just too surreal," said DiBenedetto, who took over this season for the retired Paul Menard. "Tough to be that close but hey, this is only the second race of the season. So cool to have the backing of all the people who allow me to drive this thing ... this iconic car. It's so cool."

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of JTG Daugherty finished third while Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing was fourth.

Stenhouse, too, is with a new team after having been let go by Roush Fenway Racing last year.

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"We know what we need to work on now," said Stenhouse, who won the pole for last week's Daytona 500. "It was cool to get a good, solid run in this Camaro.

"So far, so good. Two weeks. We've been fast last week, we weren't bad this week."

Penske teammates Keselowski and Ryan Blaney finished seventh and 11th respectively. Blaney led 19 laps and had the lead late in the race.

Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson started 18th and climbed all the way to third in the final stage. He faded a bit but came on late to finish fifth.

Ross Chastain filled in for Ryan Newman, who was injured in a horrific last-lap wreck a week ago in Daytona, as driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Chastain started 15th, worked his way up but a spin late in the race sent him to a 27th-place finish.

Rain forced cancellation of qualifying earlier in the weekend. Kyle Busch was on the pole, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. on the outside of the front row. That put the defending Cup champion Busch on pole based on owner points.

Because of inspection issues, however, Busch was dropped to the rear for the start. Joining Busch at the rear of the field were Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, as well as Christopher Bell of Leavine Family Racing. Truex Jr. led the field to green.

Busch came back to finish 15th. Hamlin was 17th.

--Field Level Media

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