Joey Logano Dominates Xfinity Race at The Glen

USAToday.com

WATKINS GLEN, NY – RIS – Joey Logano left no doubt who had the best car on Saaturday in the Zippo 200.  After winning the pole on Friday. It was Logano at the front most of the day.  In fact, he and teammate Brad Keselowski ran 1-2 most of the day in their Team Penske Ford Mustangs until Keselowski broke his rear track bar that sent him to 24th place.  In the meantime, Logano won.

Logano led 67 of the 85 laps and won his third straight Xfinity race at the historic Watkins Glen International road course.  The winning speed was 87.296 mph and the margin of victory over second place finisher Paul Menard was 1.517 seconds.  Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, and Trevor Bayne rounded out the top five finishers.

“It’s definitely a special day,” Logano said.  “I had a really great Snap-On Mustang—fast in practice, obviously fast in qualifying, and fast enough to lead all those laps today.”

The top three finishers were Sprint cup regulars.

Logano also won the Sprint Cup race at the Glen in 2015.  He will go for the sweep on Sunday.

“It will be a lot harder on Sunday, I can say that much,” Logano said.

An 8-car wreck on Lap 18 slowed the field and led to a 14-minute red flag condidion.  No one was hurt in the accident.  Among those involved was former Camping World Truck Series champion, Todd Bodine who was making his first start at the track since last year’s race.

Adding to the drama was the $12.5-millon repaving of the track since last year’s race which included changes to the curbing which caused many drivers trouble during the day.  Goodyear also brought a harder tires to deal with the advanced grip of the new surface.  Logano didn’t see any difference in the curbing, but many thought the curbing really took a toll on the cars.  One can only look at Keselowski’s misfortune.  He suffered the broken track bar on one of the curbs.

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Status Tms Laps
1 1 12 Joey Logano(i) Snap-On Ford 82 0 144.7 Running 3 67
2 3 2 Paul Menard(i) Richmond/Menards Chevrolet 82 0 110.6 Running
3 4 42 Kyle Larson(i) Cessna Chevrolet 82 0 122.5 Running 1 2
4 6 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 82 38 1 110.6 Running 3 6
5 7 60 Trevor Bayne(i) AdvoCare Ford 82 0 97.1 Running
6 10 1 Elliott Sadler OneMain Chevrolet 82 35 98.7 Running
7 9 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 82 34 88.3 Running
8 12 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 82 33 93.5 Running
9 19 16 Ryan Reed Lilly Diabetes/American Diabetes Association Ford 82 32 84.8 Running
10 16 48 Brennan Poole # DC Solar Chevrolet 82 31 80.5 Running
11 8 3 Ty Dillon Rheem Chevrolet 82 31 1 87.7 Running 1 5
12 13 20 Erik Jones # GameStop/Rock Band Rivals Toyota 82 29 91.1 Running
13 22 33 Brandon Jones # Roland Chevrolet 82 28 76.8 Running
14 18 4 Ross Chastain Taughannock Aviation/Ithaca Tompkins Airport Chevrolet 82 28 1 87.7 Running 1 2
15 20 44 JJ Yeley Zachry Toyota 82 26 82.3 Running
16 17 15 Scott Heckert Ford 82 25 77.5 Running
17 23 88 Kenny Habul SunEnergy1 Chevrolet 82 24 68.2 Running
18 28 28 Dakoda Armstrong JGL Racing Toyota 81 23 61.0 Running
19 31 13 Stanton Barrett Mozido.com/OCR Gaz Bar Dodge 81 22 65.3 Running
20 33 07 Ray Black Jr # Scuba Life Chevrolet 81 21 60.2 Running
21 35 25 Cody Ware # Lilly Trucking/Carport Empire Chevrolet 81 20 53.7 Running
22 24 21 Spencer Gallagher(i) Kingman Chevrolet Buick/Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 81 0 69.5 Running
23 25 39 Ryan Sieg Midstate Basement Authorities Chevrolet 80 18 61.2 Running
24 2 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Fleetwood/REV Group Ford 79 0 97.5 Running
25 15 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 74 16 65.3 Running
26 39 78 BJ McLeod # Ford 73 15 38.8 Running
27 21 01 Ryan Preece # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 67 14 59.2 Suspension
28 36 74 Nicolas Hammann WCIParts.com Dodge 67 13 44.0 Oil Leak
29 11 6 Darrell Wallace Jr Cheez-It Ford 63 12 76.3 Running
30 38 97 Ryan Ellis VroomBrands Chevrolet 62 11 33.6 Running
31 40 70 Derrike Cope E-hydrate/Sammi's Best Chevrolet 53 10 36.2 Accident
32 37 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Chevrolet 32 9 34.8 Transmission
33 30 10 Jeff Green Toyota 18 8 43.0 Fuel Pump
34 26 90 Todd Bodine Glenora Wine Cellars Chevrolet 17 7 39.8 Accident
35 14 11 Blake Koch LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 17 6 44.5 Accident
36 29 14 Tomy Drissi Arthritis Foundation Toyota 17 5 36.7 Accident
37 5 18 Kyle Busch(i) NOS Energy Drink Toyota 17 0 67.0 Accident
38 32 77 TJ Bell VroomBrands Chevrolet 13 3 30.5 Transmission
39 27 0 Garrett Smithley # teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 13 2 30.2 Overheating
40 34 40 Chris Cook Shockwave/OCR Gaz Bar Dodge 8 1 25.0 Suspension
Race Comments: Joey Logano won the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen Internationa

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2016, Issue 8, Posted 11:55 PM, 08.06.2016