NASCAR: Joey Logano holds off Kevin Harvick, wins at Phoenix

In what could be a championship preview at Phoenix Raceway, Joey Logano held off Kevin Harvick to secure his second victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season in the FanShield 500.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano became the first driver to secure his second victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the season’s fourth race, the FanShield 500, at Phoenix Raceway.

In doing so, he made Team Penske the first team to win two races this season and Ford the first manufacturer to win two. He also won the season’s second race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago.

Logano started this afternoon’s 316-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) oval in Avondale, Arizona in 13th place in his #22 Ford, and he won it by 0.276 seconds over Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick in second in his #4 Ford following an overtime restart with two laps remaining.

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Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch was the highest finishing Toyota driver in third place in his #18 Toyota and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson was the highest finishing Chevrolet driver in fourth in his #42 Chevrolet. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer rounded out the top five in fifth in his #14 Ford.

Rounding out the top 10 were Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Aric Almirola and rookie Cole Custer and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #1 Chevrolet, #9 Chevrolet, #10 Ford, #41 Ford and #24 Chevrolet, respectively.

This race featured 20 lead changes among seven drivers, and it featured 12 caution flag periods, including 10 for reasons other than stage breaks. Harvick won stage one and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski won stage two.

Keselowski won stage two after battling back after an early incident with teammate Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin that knocked Blaney out of the race an knocked Hamlin out of contention en route to a 20th place finish.

Elliott led more laps than anybody else in the field after starting from the pole position with 93 laps led, but he dropped from the lead all the way back to more than a lap off the lead lap as a result of a loose wheel in stage two. He was able to battle back up to second place before ultimately settling for seventh.

Logano won the race after leading 60 laps and overcoming a pit road penalty for an uncontrolled tire that sent him to the rear of the field, and he was one of four drivers to lead at least 60 circuits. Harvick led 67 and Keselowski led 82. The race’s other three leaders were Larson (two laps), Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher (one lap) and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. (11 laps).

Truex was in the lead pack after he was forced to start from the rear following an engine change before a late wreck knocked him out of the race. Richard Childress Racing rookie Tyler Reddick was also in the lead pack late in the race, but his race ended with a wreck following an impressive first Cup Series start at Phoenix Raceway.

If this race was indeed a championship preview, this year’s season finale should be exciting, and the new short track package played a huge role in that.

A race at Phoenix Raceway hadn’t featured 20 lead changes since November of 2013 when Harvick won a race that featured 23. Additionally, prior to today, the only other race at the track that had featured 12 caution flag periods since the track began hosting Cup Series races in 1988 was the race in November of 2014, also won by Harvick.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway.

Race Results
1st – Joey Logano
2nd – Kevin Harvick
3rd – Kyle Busch
4th – Kyle Larson
5th – Clint Bowyer
6th – Kurt Busch
7th – Chase Elliott
8th – Aric Almirola
9th – Cole Custer
10th – William Byron
11th – Brad Keselowski
12th – Jimmie Johnson
13th – Matt DiBenedetto
14th – Alex Bowman
15th – Ty Dillon
16th – Michael McDowell
17th – Chris Buescher
18th – Ryan Preece
19th – Bubba Wallace
20th – Denny Hamlin
21st – Daniel Suarez
22nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
23rd – Ross Chastain
24th – Christopher Bell
25th – John Hunter Nemechek
26th – J.J. Yeley
27th – Corey LaJoie
28th – Erik Jones
29th – Joey Gase
30th – Reed Sorenson
31st – Brennan Poole
32nd – Martin Truex Jr.
33rd – Tyler Reddick
34th – Quin Houff
35th – Garrett Smithley
36th – Austin Dillon
37th – Ryan Blaney
38th – Timmy Hill

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The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, and it is scheduled to take place at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia on Sunday, March 15. Fox is set to broadcast this race live from the four-turn, 1.54-mile (2.478-kilometer) oval beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.

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