Joey Logano toasts the photographers in victory lane. [Joe Jennings Photo]
Watkins Glen, N. Y. – Hard-charging Joey Logano scored a thrilling last turn victory, passing leader Kevin Harvick who ran out of gas with the checkered flag in sight. In winning the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen, Logano not only chalked up his 10th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory but he also swept the weekend of racing, becoming the first driver to do so. On Saturday, he drove to victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event.
And Logano did it in front of a huge sunbaked crowd and sold-out grandstands.
The victor drove Team Penske Racing’s Shell Pennzoil Ford. Ford now has 635 all-time Sprint Cup victories and the legendary Penske team now has 43 Sprint Cup wins with Ford.
Said the happy winner, “I’m still just trying to catch my breath. I was really excited after that one. I was running down Harvick there for a little bit and once I got close to him, he started to pick up his pace a little bit, which was good because I needed him to run out of gas. I started to catch him a little bit and I drove into one too hard and started to wheel hop. I just about lost it and at that point you just hope he runs out of gas, which he did in the last corner. It makes up for last week. We lost the race last week the same way, so it makes up for it to get it this week.
“I thought he was running out of gas out of the carousel. You could tell his car was slowing down a little bit and then it really slowed down. I was like, ‘Alright, I’ve got something here. Don’t screw this up.’ I was able to get by him into (turn) 11, and then he gave me a good shot in the center of 11 and then we were able to get back off the corner. It’s pretty cool to get a road course win. It means so much to me and sweeping the weekend, I’ve never swept a weekend before so this is a really, really special weekend.”
Watkins Glen International will be repaved immediately and after the post-race interviews and photos were completed, Logano got to hop on a grader and dig up a portion of the old asphalt.
Kyle Busch rambled through the field, picking off cars as the race wound down and brought his M&M Crispy Toyota home second five seconds behind the winner. With his strong outcome, he advanced to 30th in points to make him Chase eligible.
“It was fun and challenging all at the same time and I guess that’s all we can ask for as race car drivers,” Busch said. “Man, I don’t know what my emotions are. I’m just happy for this team and happy with what these guys are doing. I had a chance. I could’ve raced the 22 (Joey Logano), I could’ve passed him. I felt like I was better than he was, but my crew chief called in scared on the fuel situation from last week and I don’t blame him. We definitely didn’t want to run out again. We wanted to make sure we could be there at the end.”
Regarding the points, he added, “Yeah, we knew it was just a matter of time. That was probably another reason we didn’t need to run out of gas and have an issue here today. Again, this M&M’s Crispy team they do a phenomenal job.”
Harvick coasted home third in the Budweiser Chevrolet after leading a race-high 29 laps.
“I thought I’d done a pretty good job of saving fuel under the caution,” said Harvick, who scored his eighth top-10 finish in 15 races at the Glen. “I was just running as fast as I needed to, to protect the lead. All in all, our Budweiser/Jimmy John’s team did a great job today, and we were in position to have a win — two corners away. So, hopefully we’re saving that up for the last 10 weeks.”
Harvick continues to hold the lead in the current point standings by 42 markers over second place driver Logano.
Matt Kenseth started 26th and ended up fourth.
Fifth went to Kurt Busch.
Trailing the front five were Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Sam Hornish Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. also ran out of fuel in the final turn, ending up 11th. “Eleventh is not a great finish,” he uttered.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne had off-days, ending up 41st and 42nd, respectively.
After qualifying third, Tony Stewart had a rear gear problem and finished last.