Logano Finishes 6th in NASCAR Debut

Image details: Heluva Good! 200 served by picapp.com

Saturday’s running of the Heluva Good! 200 at Dover International Speedway in the Nationwide Series ended with Denny Hamlin pulling his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry into Victory Lane, giving Gibbs their season leading 9th victory on the year. After sitting through a 3 hour rain delay due to storms along the east coast, Hamlin, who started the race on the outside of the front row next to polesitter, Carl Edwards, was the dominant car for most of the day, leading the most laps in the race and ultimately beating Edwards to the finish line with a 1.154 second lead. Edwards went onto finish second.

“It was alright,” Edwards said. “Second’s no fun, it’s not what we come here for, but my hat’s off to Denny. He did a great job. I just wish I could have got up to him.”

David Stremme used some late race pit strategy with a two-tire stop for some much needed track position, and he wound up third. Fourth place went to David Reutimann, and Greg Biffle wound up fifth after passing rookie, Joey Logano, in the closing laps of the race to take that position.

Logano – who started the race in 9th – ran solidly all day long in his Nationwide Series debut, but found himself in trouble early on. He made contact with the no. 9 Dodge of Kasey Kahne during a round of pit stops and was forced to return to the pits for a second time under caution, and he restarted back in the 28th position on lap 26. By the time that the next caution flag waived in the air just twenty laps later, Logano had worked his way up eleven spots to 17th, and he gradually worked his way through the field for the remainder of the race before finishing 6th.

Following the race, Logano stated, “We were a sixth place car and finished sixth. Overall it was a good day. I was hoping for that top-five, but I screwed up in the pits and put myself in a position that I didn’t need to. We’ll see what happens next.”

Clint Bowyer entered the race with the points lead, and a solid 9th place effort was good enough to keep him at the top of the standings, though Kyle Busch – second in points – gave him a little extra insurance earlier on. Busch, who had been running near the front for the entire race, was running ahead of Braun Racing teammate, Jason Leffler, when Leffler’s no. 38 Toyota got loose and hit Busch from behind. Both cars then collided with the outside retaining wall, ending both of their days permanently.

Busch, who finished in 28th and now trails Bowyer by 122 points, said, “I just have a teammate that can’t stand to be number two. I don’t know what Leffler was thinking there.”

Following the accident, Leffler apologized to both Kyle Busch and car owner, Todd Braun.

Nationwide Series Standings: