NASCAR Cup Series: Joey Logano wins 2018 First Data 500

Joey Logano bumped Martin Truex Jr. out of the way to win the opening race of the round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the First Data 500.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano became the first driver to clinch a berth in the Championship 4 by winning the First Data 500, which was the opening race of the third round of the four-round, 10-race 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the round of 8.

Logano, who started the 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia in 10th place in his #22 Ford, won it by just 0.107 seconds over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who finished in second in his #11 Toyota.

However, the key battle over the final few laps of the race was between Logano and Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who ended up finishing in third place in his #78 Toyota.

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Logano and Truex Jr. battled side-by-side for several laps as the laps wound down toward the end of the race, with Logano leading the overwhelming majority of them. Truex Jr. finally got past Logano coming to the white flag, and he cleared him on the back straightaway.

However, unlike Truex Jr. when he was behind Logano, Logano put the bumper of his #22 Ford to the back of Truex Jr.’s #78 Toyota, moving the #78 Toyota up the track. This caused the two drivers to bump and bang one another as they came to the checkered flag, at which point Hamlin snuck up and nearly won the race. He was able to pass Truex Jr., but not Logano. Truex Jr. only ended up finishing 0.221 seconds behind Logano despite the fact that he finished in third place.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who started the race from the pole position, and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski rounded out the top five by finishing in fourth and fifth place in their #18 Toyota and #2 Ford, respectively. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch finished in sixth in his #41 Ford.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman were the highest finishing Chevrolet drivers of the race. They finished in seventh and eighth place in their #9 Chevrolet and #31 Chevrolet, respectively.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Suarez and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10 by finishing in ninth and 10th place in their #19 Toyota and #4 Ford, respectively.

Among the drivers who finished in the top 10, only Logano, Truex Jr., Busch, Busch, Elliott and Harvick are round of 8 drivers. The other two round of 8 drivers, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola and Clint Bowyer, finished in 11th and 21st place in their #10 Ford and #14 Ford, respectively.

The race featured a total of 11 lead changes among six drivers. Aside of Logano, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 309 laps led, five other drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Hamlin, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Keselowski and Bowyer. Hamlin won stage one and Logano won stage two.

The race also featured a total of eight caution flag periods, of which six took place as a result of on-track incidents and the regular two took place as a result of the endings of stages one and two. These eight caution flag periods spanned a total of 68 laps. Of the 40 drivers who started the race, 36 finished it and 20 finished it on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2018 First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Race Results
1st – Joey Logano
2nd – Denny Hamlin
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – Kyle Busch
5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Kurt Busch
7th – Chase Elliott
8th – Ryan Newman
9th – Daniel Suarez
10th – Kevin Harvick
11th – Aric Almirola
12th – Jimmie Johnson
13th – Chris Buescher
14th – A.J. Allmendinger
15th – Ty Dillon
16th – Jamie McMurray
17th – Alex Bowman
18th – David Ragan
19th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20th – Ryan Blaney
21st – Clint Bowyer
22nd – Paul Menard
23rd – Matt Kenseth
24th – Cole Whitt
25th – Michael McDowell
26th – Erik Jones
27th – D.J. Kennington
28th – Regan Smith
29th – Ross Chastain
30th – Austin Dillon
31st – J.J. Yeley
32nd – Landon Cassill
33rd – Jeb Burton
34th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
35th – Joey Gase
36th – Matt DiBenedetto
37th – Kyle Larson
38th – Timmy Hill
39th – William Byron
40th – Hermie Sadler III

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The next race on the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoff schedule is the AAA Texas 500, which is scheduled to take place next Sunday, November 4. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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