Joey Logano not thrown off by restarts, wins Boyd Gaming 300
Joey Logano appeared distracted during his victory interview after capturing the 21st annual Boyd Gaming 300 on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
A fidgety Logano looked around as if he were expecting another caution flag to be waved to stop his celebration.
“Oh, man, those restarts were crazy,” said Logano, who won his first Xfinity Series race in Las Vegas. “I didn’t know what lane to pick.”
Logano, who led the final 54 laps, was forced to slow down and restart his No. 12 Ford three times with 30 laps to go because of the yellow flag. Nine cautions for 44 laps unhurried the second-tier race.
The 26-year-old driver for Team Penske had been making all the right lane decisions during the restarts and was forced to make one more correct move to hold off a charging Kyle Larson over the final four laps.
“We really didn’t have any idea there a lot of times,” said Brian Wilson, Logano’s crew chief. “Joey was relying on the high lane, and we let him decide again to end it.
“Logano is the best at restarts.”
“You wouldn’t be saying that if we didn’t win,” Logano interrupted.
There was a chance the caution flag would be waved for a 10th time on the final lap to send the race into overtime. Luckily for Logano, he was still in the green as he captured his 28th Xfinity Series victory to move into eighth on the all-time wins list.
The numerous restarts benefited Mexican driver Daniel Suarez, who moved up from the middle of the pack to take third behind Logano and Larson.
Las Vegan Kyle Busch, who won Stage 1, was in contention for a top-three finish but faltered to seventh place for the final restart. Busch led 48 laps, including the first 45.
Familiar faces from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series were in the top pack throughout the race with Logano, Larson, Suarez, Busch, Austin Dillon (fifth) and Brad Keselowski (10th), the Stage 2 winner.
Justin Allgaier had the best finish at fourth place among full-time Xfinity Series drivers. Elliott Sadler, who finished eighth, leads the Xfinity Series standings by four points over Ryan Reed, who took ninth.
“That was a fun race,” Logano said. “They gave me many opportunities to screw this up with all the restarts, but we came out with the victory.”
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.
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Boyd Gaming 300 results
At Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Lap length: 1.50 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (4) Joey Logano, Ford, 200 laps, 0 rating, 0 points.
2. (7) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 0.
3. (3) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 200, 0, 0.
4. (13) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 47.
5. (5) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 0.
6. (16) Darrell Wallace Jr, Ford, 200, 0, 35.
7. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200, 0, 0.
8. (14) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 29.
9. (10) Ryan Reed, Ford, 200, 0, 29.
10. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 200, 0, 0.
11. (20) Cole Custer, Ford, 200, 0, 26.
12. (19) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 25.
13. (8) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 30.
14. (18) William Byron, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 23.
15. (12) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 22.
16. (11) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 21.
17. (15) Aric Almirola, Ford, 200, 0, 0.
18. (27) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 19.
19. (22) Drew Herring, Toyota, 200, 0, 18.
20. (21) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 200, 0, 17.
21. (28) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 16.
22. (23) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 200, 0, 15.
23. (24) Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 14.
24. (9) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 199, 0, 0.
25. (26) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 199, 0, 12.
26. (25) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 198, 0, 11.
27. (31) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 198, 0, 10.
28. (37) David Starr, Chevrolet, 197, 0, 9.
29. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 197, 0, 8.
30. (36) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 196, 0, 7.
31. (29) Ray Black Jr, Chevrolet, 196, 0, 6.
32. (35) Martin Roy, Chevrolet, 196, 0, 5.
33. (32) Timmy Hill, Toyota, 195, 0, 4.
34. (6) Matt Tifft, Toyota, accident, 191, 0, 10.
35. (17) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 189, 0, 2.
36. (33) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, accident, 177, 0, 1.
37. (39) B J McLeod, Chevrolet, brakes, 159, 0, 1.
38. (38) Brandon Hightower, Toyota, vibration, 18, 0, 1.
39. (40) Stephen Leicht, Chevrolet, accident, 4, 0, 1.
40. (30) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, electrical, 1, 0, 0.
Race statistics
Average speed of race winner: 118.526 mph.
Time of race: 2 hours, 31 minutes, 52 seconds.
Margin of victory: 0.602 seconds.
Caution flags: 9 for 44 laps.
Lead changes: 8 among 5 drivers.
Lap leaders: K.Busch 1-48; K.Larson 49-74; J.Logano 75; K.Larson 76-80; B.Keselowski 81-92; J.Logano 93-142; K.Larson 143-144; J.Yeley 145; J.Logano 146-200
Leaders summary (Driver, times led, laps led): J.Logano, 3 times for 103 laps; K.Busch, 1 time for 47 laps; K.Larson, 3 times for 30 laps; B.Keselowski, 1 time for 11 laps; J.Yeley, 1 time for 0 laps.
Wins: K.Busch, 1; J.Logano, 1; R.Reed, 1.
Top 10 in points: 1. E.Sadler, 99; 2. R.Reed, 95; 3. W.Byron, 90; 4. D.Hemric, 72; 5. D.Wallace, 70; 6. B.Poole, 66; 7. M.Tifft, 66; 8. D.Armstrong, 64; 9. B.Gaughan, 64; 10. C.Custer, 62.
NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
