Joey Logano Wins the Meijer 300
June 14, 2009 by Warren Hayashi
Filed under Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Joey Logano became the first NASCAR racer to be victorious in the Meijer 300 Nationwide Series race two consecutive years at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, on Sunday. An achievement that had Joey Logano smiling when he learned the facts and who could blame him considering the difficulty of such a feat of racing.
Joey Lagano looks cool, clean, and ready to race
Logano had become the first NASCAR driver to take the pole position two years in a row at the 1.5 mile venue in Kentucky, earlier in the day. The Kentucky Speedway seems to suit Logano’s driving style and car and we’re sure he would love to race on this track every week. Logano managed to pull ahead of team mate Kyle Busch with only 10 laps left in the 300 mile competition and then stayed in front long enough to take the win. This gives him and his team mates two poles and two victories in two tries at the Kentucky Speedway, a perfect record that’s going to be hard to continue in the future.
The victory was a battle that saw Kyle Busch take the lead six different times during the competition and he was in front for the most laps of the race for the seventh consecutive race in a row. Kyle Busch lead for 162 laps of the 300 scheduled laps around the Kentucky Speedway but would in the end he couldn’t hold off a faster car. Kyle Busch didn’t have too much time to ponder his second place finish as he had to leave immediately after the race to compete in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race.
Speeding on pit road was a common theme in the Meijer 300 as NASCAR handed out 27 pit road speed penalties during the race, including one to Logano on lap 71 that had him restarting 15th, but his car was strong and he worked his way up through the field to second place with just 93 laps left. The red flag came out with 15 laps remaining, which allowed Logano to close ground on Busch following the restart, and then slip past him moving into Turn 3 of lap 190.
Brad Keselowski held on to finish third, Brendan Gaughan was satisfied with his fourth place finish, and Justin Allgaier took fifth. Jason Leffler finished sixth, Michael Annett seventh, Burney Lamar eighth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came ninth, and the top ten was rounded out by Kelly Bires.
The next Nationwide race is the Milwaukee Mile on June 20 in the Northern Tool.com 250. Check information below on times to watch or listen to the race.
ESPN 2, 7:30 PM
Radio MRN, 8 PM
Image: Zuma Press
