Joey Logano made the most of a late restart, as he drove to the win and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Logano powered past defending series champion and title contender Martin Truex, Jr. with an outside pass with 12 laps to go, and drove away from the field en route to the win in the Ford EcoBoost 400.
It’s the first Championship for the 28-year-old Middletown, Connecticut native, who cut his teeth on the short tracks around Georgia after a move south to pursue a racing career. It’s his third win of the season, and the 21st of his MENCS career.
“Man, I don’t even know how to put this in words,” Logano said. “God is so good. It’s crazy what life can throw at you sometimes. You get the cautions at the right time and let this team do their job and let me do my job, and next thing you know, here we are, NASCAR champions. I don’t even know what to say.”
Logano was trailing Championship 4 driver Kevin Harvick over the closing laps, as fellow title contender Kyle Busch, working a different pit strategy, held the lead. Truex, Jr. had just taken a position from Logano, and was looking to hunt down Harvick when Daniel Suarez tagged the wall to bring out the final caution of the night.
Busch was able to beat everyone off of pit road, with Truex second, Logano third and Harvick in fourth.
Truex, Jr. powered to the lead on the restart with 15 laps to go. But Logano closed quickly, and four laps later, made the final pass for the lead.
“Every individual on that team is the best in their position, and we showed it today,” said Logano. “We were – at points we were really good, at points we were down for the count. I knew we had a short run car. I said it before the race started. Our car is a short run car. If it’s anything longer than 25 laps, we’re going to be in trouble, and that really showed today.
“It came down to the short run, and we’re champions. NASCAR champions.”
While many labeled him and his team as the underdogs going against three former champions in Truex, Jr., Harvick and Busch, Logano was adamant that there were not.
“We proved why we’re not. This is the favorite, and I told you that before the race started,” he said. “I’m so proud of everybody. Everyone rose to the occasion, executed under pressure like nobody’s business.”
For team owner Roger Penske, it gives him his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title and the 33rd overall motorsports championship for Team Penske.
It also marks the ninth series championship for a Ford driver – but the first since Kurt Busch won the title back in 2004.
It was almost fitting that the final battle came down to Logano and Truex, Jr., as the duo had a spirited battle last month at Martinsville Speedway that ended with a last lap shove to Truex, Jr.’s door by Logano, sending the No. 22 Ford to victory lane. That led to some bad blood between the two. But, other than a little contact earlier in the evening, the two raced clean with each other all night.
After the final pass for the lead, Truex, Jr. would hold on to finish in second.
“I just needed time. That’s all I needed,” said Truex, Jr. “They were faster than us for 15 or 20 laps all day long. It was like a reverse scenario from last year. Last year we took advantage of the short run car at the end – the 18 (Kyle Busch) car should’ve won the race and tonight we should’ve won the race and they (Joey Logano) took advantage of the short-run car.
“I don’t know what else we could’ve done. Honestly, we worked our guts out all weekend and just to get here, I told you earlier we shut a lot of people up and made them eat crow and that felt good. To come here and almost upset the field and almost win it back to back was really awesome. I just wish that last caution hadn’t come out. Other than that, I don’t know what we could’ve done.”
The finish came in what is the final race for Truex, Jr’s. Furniture Row Racing team, as owner Barney Visser is shuttering the operation at season’s end.
“I’m going to miss these guys,” Truex, Jr. said. “Wish we could’ve won it. We had it. We just couldn’t go over 15 laps. I knew that last restart was going to be tough. We were able to get the lead, I just couldn’t do anything. I was just slow for 15 laps. We turned and I’d try to go as fast as those guys and I’d be dead sideways and I just I couldn’t do it. I don’t know what else I could’ve done. He passed me so fast I didn’t even get a chance to do anything. We needed more laps. We just needed more time. Proud of my guys and proud of everybody.”
While Kevin Harvick held the lead late, he and his Stewart-Haas Racing team had been battling an ill-handling race car for the latter half of the race after the sun went down. In the end, he would finish third.
“Yeah, we had a daytime race car,” said Harvick. “As soon as it got dark we never could get our car tightened up there at the end, and then they made a great call to put us in position to win the race, and then the caution came out when the 2 car (Keselowski) spun the 19 (Suarez) out and came off pit road fourth, and just our strong point was not the restarts tonight, and wound up on the wrong side of it.”
Of the four Championship contenders, the one who appeared to have the roughest night was Kyle Busch. After being gifted the number one pit stall by pole sitter and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, Busch struggled to be in contention all night, plagued by slow pit stops by his crew.
A decision to leave Busch on the track and in the lead when everyone else pitted paid off when the final caution on the night flew on lap 246. Busch’s crew was able to get him off of pit road with the lead, but he fell back to fourth quickly on the restart. In the end, that’s where he would finish his night.
“I don’t know, just not at all what we wanted obviously and not what we expected either,” Busch said. “We knew the 22 (Joey Logano) was fast, but man, I thought we were way closer than that. We kind of held up the first half of the race, but after that we were just never close. I don’t know what happened, just didn’t have the feel in the race car that I needed tonight.
“Just all night long, as soon as we got out of the gas and into the corner we were just sideways, just turning to the right and trying to save it. You do that for 50 or 60 laps, whatever it is on tires and you just can’t hang on. I couldn’t hang after eight laps, let alone the 50.”
Keselowski would finish in fifth, while Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch rounded out the top ten.
Kyle Larson was poised to play the role of the spoiler to the Championship hopefuls. He led five times for 45 laps before a flat tire ended his hopes for a victory. He would finish in 13th.
Jimmie Johnson, competing in his final race with long-time crew chief Chad Knaus as well as his last race with sponsor Lowe’s, wasn’t a factor during the race, ending his night in 14th.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Ford EcoBoost 400 – November 18, 2018
1. (5) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 267.
2. (3) Martin Truex Jr. (P), Toyota, 267.
3. (12) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, 267.
4. (2) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, 267.
5. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
6. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 267.
7. (14) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
8. (26) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 267.
9. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.
10. (6) Kurt Busch, Ford, 267.
11. (16) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
12. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
13. (11) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.
14. (19) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 267.
15. (8) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 267.
16. (9) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 267.
17. (15) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
18. (21) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 267.
19. (20) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266.
20. (25) David Ragan, Ford, 266.
21. (23) Darrell Wallace, Jr. #, Chevrolet, 266.
22. (31) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
23. (27) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 266.
24. (28) William Byron #, Chevrolet, 266.
25. (22) Paul Menard, Ford, 265.
26. (29) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 264.
27. (7) Erik Jones, Toyota, 264.
28. (24) Michael McDowell, Ford, 263.
29. (13) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 263.
30. (18) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 262.
31. (32) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 262.
32. (33) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 261.
33. (39) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 259.
34. (34) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 259.
35. (36) B.J. McLeod(i), Ford, 256.
36. (35) * Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 256.
37. (38) * Timmy Hill(i), Toyota, 254.
38. (37) * Tanner Berryhill, Toyota, 254.
39. (30) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 240.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 133.056 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 00 Mins, 36 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.725 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 26 laps.
Lead Changes: 22 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin 1-36; M. Truex Jr. (P) 37-39; M. McDowell 40-41; D. Hamlin 42; K. Harvick (P) 43-82; K. Larson 83; K. Harvick (P) 84-86; K. Larson 87-90; J. Logano (P) 91-104; K. Larson 105-117; K. Harvick (P) 118-119; M. Truex Jr. (P) 120; D. Hamlin 121-124; K. Larson 125-147; K. Harvick (P) 148-159; K. Larson 160-163; J. Logano (P) 164-166; K. Harvick (P) 167; J. Logano (P) 168-218; M. Truex Jr. (P) 219-230; K. Busch (P) 231-251; M. Truex Jr. (P) 252-255; J. Logano (P) 256-267.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) J. Logano (P) 4 times for 80 laps; K. Harvick (P) 5 times for 58 laps; K. Larson 5 times for 45 laps; D. Hamlin 3 times for 41 laps; K. Busch (P) 1 time for 21 laps; M. Truex Jr. (P) 4 times for 20 laps; M. McDowell 1 time for 2 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 4,42,18,22,78,11,10,20,2,41
Stage #2 Top Ten: 42,4,22,78,10,18,41,11,48,14
Top 10 in Points: 1. Joey Logano- 5040 (3 Wins)*; 2. Martin Truex, Jr. – 5035 (4 Wins)*; 3. Kevin Harvick – 5034 (8 Wins)*; 4. Kyle Busch – 5033 (8 Wins)*; 5. Aric Almirola – 2354 (1 Win); 6. Chase Elliott – 2350 (3 Win); 7. Kurt Busch – 2350 (1 Win); 8. Brad Keselowski – 2343 (3 Wins); 9. Kyle Larson – 2299; 10. Ryan Blaney – 2298 (1 Win).
*Championship 4 Contender
