Joey Logano leads Penske to one-two finish at Bristol

Aug 23, 2014; Bristol, TN, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano (22) reacts to winning the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Joey Logano claimed his third win of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season on Saturday night in the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol (Ten.) Motor Speedway.

“Man, what a Shell-Pennzoil Ford, there,” Logano said in victory lane. “Made some small adjustments all night and got our third win of the year.”

Team Penske came away from Bristol with a one-two finish, as Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski finished second.

“The Wurth Ford Fusion was about equal to Joey’s,” Keselowski said. “He just had track position on me.”

The race also capped off a weekend sweep, of sorts, for Team Penske, as Keselowski claimed his first-career Camping World Truck Series win in his own truck on Thursday morning at Bristol, while Ryan Blaney drove the Team Penske entry to victory lane Friday night in the Nationwide Series race at the track.

Logano, on fresher tires, got by Matt Kenseth to take the lead with 44 laps remaining in the 500-lap race. With 31 to go, Keselowski got by Kenseth to take second and battle Logano for the win. Kenseth finished third.

Kenseth took his final lead of the race by staying out during the final yellow flag that came out in the final 100 laps. He was one of four drivers to stay out, while previous race leader Jamie McMurray and Logano lined up fifth and sixth on fresher tires.

“I just knew clean air was going to be worth more than new tires,” Kenseth said. “Maybe if we had new tires, we would’ve won; we’ll never know.”

Prior to losing the lead to Kenseth, McMurray dominated the middle portion of the race. He took the lead on lap 239 and led the way until getting beaten by Keselowski in the pits during a caution just past the halfway point. McMurray retook the top spot on lap 312 and maintained the position until Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kyle Larson and Paul Menard stayed out during the final yellow flag.

Early in the race, Kevin Harvick was the star of the show. He started on the pole and led the first 37 laps before losing the lead to Jeff Gordon. Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Logano and Denny Hamlin also led laps before Harvick got back to the front as the yellow flag waved for an incident between himself and Hamlin while racing for the lead on lap 161. Harvick was able to continue, while Hamlin ended the evening in the garage.

Busch was another driver whose race went south after leading laps in the first half of the race. After taking the lead on lap 56, Busch was caught speeding on pit road during a competition caution on lap 60. His night then went from bad to worse when he was involved in an incident on lap 130 that also included Aric Almirola, Brian Vickers, Kyle Larson and Clint Bowyer.

Jimmie Johnson finished fourth and Kurt Busch was fifth. Finishing sixth through 10th were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Edwards, McMurray, Paul Menard and Greg Biffle.

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