FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Joey Logano stayed in front on a restart in overtime at Texas on Sunday to get his first victory this season.
Logano led only seven of the 271 laps, four more than scheduled at the 1 1/2-mile track. He had started 27th in the 11th race this year.
It came a week after Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric's win at Talladega, where Logano had a fifth-place finish that became 39th after a postrace inspection found an issue with the spoiler on his No. 22 Ford. There was also Logano's expletive-laden rant on the radio toward his teammate in the middle of that race that the two smoothed out during the week.
On the final restart after the 12th caution, Logano was on the inside of his other teammate, Ryan Blaney, but surged ahead going on the backstretch and stayed easily in front the final 1 1/2 laps. Ross Chastain then passed Blaney to finish second ahead of him.
Logano got his 37th career victory, getting the lead for the first time on lap 264. He went low to complete a pass of Michael McDowell, who, on a caution with 47 laps left, took only two tires and moved up 15 spots to second.
McDowell got loose a few laps after that being passed by Logano and crashed to bring out the caution that sent the race to overtime. He finished 26th.
Odds and Ends
Chase Elliott left Texas last spring with his first victory after 42 races and 18 months without one. He hasn’t won since, and now has another long winless drought — this one 38 races and now nearly 13 months after finishing 16th. ... A crew member for Christopher Bell crawled in through the passenger side of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and was fully in the car to reconnect an air hose the driver's helmet during a caution in the second stage. It took two stops during that caution and twice climbing into the car to resolve the issue.
Fiery end to Hamlin streak
Denny Hamlin had finished on the lead lap in 21 consecutive races, but a fiery finish on lap 75 ended that streak that had matched the eighth-longest in NASCAR history. He was the first car out of the race.
After the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lost power, something blew up when Hamlin recycled the engine. There were flames coming out from under the car and it was engulfed in smoke by time it rolled to a stop on the inside of the track and Hamlin climbed out unharmed.
Youngest polesitter
Carson Hocevar, the 22-year-old driver who is McDowell's teammate with Spire Motorsports, was the youngest polesitter ever in Texas. He led only the first 22 laps of the race, losing it while pitting during the first caution. He finished 24th after a late accident.
Stage cautions
Both in-race stages finished under caution. Cindric won Stage 1 after Hamlin's issues, and Kyle Larson took the second after a yellow flag came out because of debris on the track after the right rear tire on Chris Buescher's car came apart.
Larson got his 68th overall stage win and his sixth at Texas, with both marks being records. He has won a stage in each of the last five Cup races at Texas, starting in his 2021 win there.
NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY Results
Sunday
At Texas Motor SpeedwayFort Worth, Texas.Lap length: 1.50 miles(Start position in parentheses)
1. (27) Joey Logano, Ford, 271 laps, 42 points.
2. (31) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 271, 35.
3. (24) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 271, 37.
4. (4) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 271, 50.
5. (14) Erik Jones, Toyota, 271, 33.
6. (34) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 271, 31.
7. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 271, 30.
8. (28) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 271, 29.
9. (16) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 271, 28.
10. (25) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 271, 27.
11. (32) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 271, 26.
12. (23) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 271, 25.
13. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 271, 32.
14. (21) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 271, 23.
15. (15) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 271, 22.
16. (29) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 271, 21.
17. (13) Zane Smith, Ford, 271, 20.
18. (12) Chris Buescher, Ford, 271, 25.
19. (20) Cole Custer, Ford, 271, 18.
20. (26) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 271, 18.
21. (17) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 271, 34.
22. (37) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 271, 15.
23. (6) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 271, 17.
24. (1) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 270, 23.
25. (3) Austin Cindric, Ford, 268, 22.
26. (5) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, accident, 265, 13.
27. (22) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, suspension, 254, 10.
28. (30) Brad Keselowski, Ford, accident, 246, 9.
29. (33) Ryan Preece, Ford, accident, 237, 15.
30. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, accident, 237, 7.
31. (35) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, accident, 217, 0.
32. (7) Josh Berry, Ford, 187, 13.
33. (9) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, accident, 179, 10.
34. (18) Noah Gragson, Ford, accident, 172, 3.
35. (11) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, accident, 172, 10.
36. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, accident, 172, 1.
37. (38) Chad Finchum, Ford, accident, 167, 1.
38. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, engine, 73, 1.
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Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 116.887 mph.
Time of Race: 3 hours, 28 minutes, 40 seconds.
Margin of Victory: .346 seconds.
Caution Flags: 12 for 73 laps.
Lead Changes: 20 among 13 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C.Hocevar 0-22; D.Hamlin 23; A.Cindric 24-73; T.Reddick 74; A.Cindric 75-83; J.Berry 84-124; K.Larson 125-126; A.Cindric 127; T.Gilliland 128-131; K.Larson 132-166; A.Bowman 167; W.Byron 168-189; K.Larson 190-220; J.Nemechek 221; K.Larson 222-243; M.McDowell 244-252; R.Blaney 253; M.McDowell 254-263; J.Logano 264-268; R.Blaney 269; J.Logano 270-271
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Larson, 4 times for 90 laps; A.Cindric, 3 times for 60 laps; J.Berry, 1 time for 41 laps; W.Byron, 1 time for 22 laps; C.Hocevar, 1 time for 22 laps; M.McDowell, 2 times for 19 laps; J.Logano, 2 times for 7 laps; T.Gilliland, 1 time for 4 laps; R.Blaney, 2 times for 2 laps; J.Nemechek, 1 time for 1 lap; T.Reddick, 1 time for 1 lap; A.Bowman, 1 time for 1 lap; D.Hamlin, 1 time for 1 lap.
Wins: C.Bell, 3; K.Larson, 2; D.Hamlin, 2; W.Byron, 1; A.Cindric, 1; J.Berry, 1.
Top 16 in Points: 1. W.Byron, 389; 2. K.Larson, 358; 3. D.Hamlin, 337; 4. C.Elliott, 317; 5. C.Bell, 307; 6. T.Reddick, 303; 7. B.Wallace, 296; 8. R.Blaney, 276; 9. A.Bowman, 274; 10. R.Chastain, 246; 11. J.Logano, 246; 12. C.Briscoe, 235; 13. C.Buescher, 230; 14. A.Cindric, 219; 15. A.Allmendinger, 216; 16. K.Busch, 210.
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NASCAR Driver Rating Formula
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.
The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.
