Driving the fastest car of the weekend in Atlanta, Joey Logano led 140 of 260 laps and ended the race right where he started it – in first place.
After cruising through Stage 1, leading every single lap of the 60-lap opening stage, the field was put on notice that Logano’s Ford was indeed the car to beat on Sunday afternoon.
“This thing was an animal,” Logano said of his Autotrader Mustang. “It was very very fast and (I) was able to lead a ton of laps … huge victory. Nice to get one early in the season – it always feels better – but what a great day for us.”
Making matters more impressive for Logano, he wasn’t the leader coming to the white flag – that distinction went to his old Penske pal Brad Keselowski who wound up crossing the finish line in second place after leading 47 laps of his own.
Logano utilized a big run through Turn 1 on the final lap, got to the outside of Keselowski’s car, and set his sights on Victory Lane after a big push down the backstretch from Christopher Bell helped him clear Keselowski.
“Yeah, the bottom came with a huge run – I don’t know how,” Keselowski said. “I thought I had it blocked and Joey just kept shaking and his car didn’t stall out.
“I couldn’t get the push down the back. I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just get a push down the back,’ and the 20 car just hauled down there.”
Bell came home third, while Corey LaJoie earned his first top-five of the season and second of his career in fourth place. LaJoie was followed by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick in fifth.
While the action was reasonably tame for much of the day, that narrative changed when Kevin Harvick was spun from the lead by Ross Chastain on Lap 190 – although little if any contact was actually made. As Harvick noted, the air behind his car caused the spin that involved 12 cars.
“I don’t know that he actually hit me, I think he was just so close to me that it just kind of took the back tires.
“He just caught me right in the middle of the corner there, and then the way that he got to me right there, I think he was just barely on me. The way he came from the right to the left just took the back of the car and spun it around. Just a weird deal.”
Chastain came away unscathed and finished 13th. Denny Hamlin was sixth after leading 14 laps early in the final stage, while Ryan Blaney rebounded to take seventh after a pit road speeding penalty. Erik Jones was eighth, Ty Gibbs ninth – his first top-10 of the season and second of his young career – and the man he replaced, Kyle Busch, was 10th.
Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric won the second stage of the race and ended the day 11th. Logano now leads the standings by a single point over Bell, and Chastain is five points behind Logano in third.
The Cup Series heads to Austin, Texas, for its first road-course venture of the season next Sunday at the Circuit of The Americas. Race coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox.
About Me: My name is Jason, and I am from Binghamton, NY. I am currently pursuing a Journalism degree from Buffalo State College, and it is my goal to work in the NASCAR media world. Sports are my passion, and watching/attending sporting events is what I do most in my free time.
Twitter: jasonpguth
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