TALLADEGA, Ala. – Joey Logano nipped Kyle Busch at the finish line Saturday to win the Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway and give Toyota its 200th win in NASCAR.

The race was marred by a late accident that sent Eric McClure to an Alabama hospital by helicopter, but NASCAR officials said he was awake and speaking to medical personnel.

And, after the finish, Danica Patrick intentionally wrecked Sam Hornish Jr. on the cool down lap. It was apparent retaliation for Hornish squeezing Patrick on the last lap; he said he had a flat tire, but she wasn’t buying the excuse from her former IndyCar colleague.

Meanwhile, Logano was celebrating his sneaky victory over Busch, his teammate in the Sprint Cup Series.

“I haven’t seen one yet that’s predictable at Talladega,” Logano said. “I just got him right at the line. I was super pumped.”

The multicar accident that injured McClure brought out a 19-minute red flag, and Busch restarted as the leader with two laps to go. Logano went off in third, and immediately pulled onto the back of Busch’s bumper.

Advertisement

He stayed in line and pushed Busch around the track as the two teamed to hold off the tandem of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cole Whitt. Stenhouse and Whitt never pulled alongside Busch and Logano in an attempt to pull them apart, and it gave Logano the chance to make his move.

Logano pulled out as they exited the final turn and nipped Busch by .034 seconds.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I went too soon,”‘ said Logano, who gave Toyota its milestone win. The automaker has 42 wins in the Sprint Cup Series, 67 in Nationwide and 91 in the Trucks Series.

The race was stopped after a 10-car accident on the previous restart. It wasn’t clear how it started, but Michael Annett appeared to be turned into Brad Keselowski, and cars began spinning all over the track. McClure’s car darted head-first into the inside wall of Turn 3. The car’s roof had to be cut and peeled back for McClure to be removed.

“Everyone is doing what they have to do at these races,” Annett said. “Unfortunately we tore up a bunch of race cars. Everybody is trying to get everything they can on those last two laps. It is just the way this racing is.”

Busch wound up second and was followed by Stenhouse, who took over the points lead from Elliott Sadler.

Advertisement

 

SPRINT CUP: Jeff Gordon understands winning a pole doesn’t mean very much for the big picture.

But after opening this season with a serious slump, the four-time NASCAR champion is embracing all the small victories he can get.

Gordon grabbed the top starting spot for today’s race at Talladega with a lap at 191.623 mph in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. It was Gordon’s first pole since this race last year, and the 71st of his career — third on the all-time list.

And it comes at a time when Gordon is trying to jump-start his season. He has just two top finishes through the first nine races and is ranked 17th in the Sprint Cup standings.

“We all know that sitting on the pole at Talladega doesn’t really guarantee anything for the race,” he said. “The biggest positive is just the fact we’ve had a rough start to the season, not a lot has gone our way other than we’ve had fast cars but not a lot of results to show for it. To me, right now, we’ll just take any kind of positive boost that we possibly can and this is a good one.”

BEECH RIDGE: Joey Doiron of Berwick led the final 63 laps on his way to victory in the PASS North season opener.

Doiron started 10th in the 32-car field but quickly made his way toward the leaders. He moved in front for good on Lap 88 and finished more than six seconds ahead of runner-up Lonnie Sommerville of Saint John, New Brunswick, as he earned his first PASS North win.

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.