Joey Logano Comes Up Short at Dover

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

In a chaotic finish to the Gander Outdoors 400, Joey Logano avoided the mayhem to finish third. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver overcame multiple issues to score his 100^th-career top-five finish at Dover International Speedway.

In overtime, Logano’s No. 22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford Fusion had some of the freshest tires of those in the top-five. On the restart, he gave Denny Hamlin a shove forward, trying to push him by fellow Playoff driver Chase Elliott.

However, it wasn’t enough, and both Hamlin and Logano drifted back. At the same time, Logano fended off Erik Jones to take the checkered flag in third.

On lap 340, Logano hit an axle from Ross Chastain’s car in turns three and four. It tore a six-foot gash into the passenger side of his racecar. Under the ensuing debris caution, his Todd Gordon-led team quickly made repairs, losing a handful of positions on pit road. The repair held, allowing Logano to regain positions on track.

“When you hit an axle that’s a big piece that can do some real, real damage,” Logano explained. “It could hurt the driver in all honesty, so I’m glad we got through that and fixed our damage and got a good finish.”

With three laps to go, Logano found himself just outside the top-five, having taken two right side tires under caution. On the backstretch, teammate Brad Keselowski and fellow Ford Performance driver Aric Almirola collided following a restart. The contact set off a melee that involved Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Blaney, and destroyed Alex Bowman’s Chevrolet.

Somehow, Logano was able to sneak through the incident in his already-repaired Ford.

“Right at the end there the two-tire call was good and on that restart we were able to make so many passes and then they crashed, so that set us up pretty good,” Logano added.

“I honestly thought I had a really good shot at winning it, but just came up a little short. I didn’t think the 9 could possibly win that race on old tires like that, but I think that red flag really helped him cool them off.”

The third-place finish was the ninth top-five for Logano this season. He moves from sixth to fourth on the Playoff Grid, 37-Points behind Championship Points Leader Kevin Harvick. Logano is 21 points ahead of the cutoff for the Round of Eight, currently held by Blaney.