Joey Logano started on the pole. It was his first NASCAR Nationwide Series pole of 2013. The race went green and Logano was able to lead the first lap. Logano held onto the lead well in the early stages, but Kyle Busch was able to pass him for the lead on lap 19 in lap traffic. The race would go a short time after this before the first caution waved on lap 25. Brian Scott got loose in turn 1. Scott began to slide through turns 1 and 2 before getting to the apron. He stopped on the apron and was able to get back going. Scott had avoided damage, but he had lost a few positions on track. T.J. Bell received the lucky dog. The strategy session began at this point in the race. The top 8 drivers stayed on track while Kevin Harvick and the drivers behind him came to pit road. There were a lot of different strategies on the stops including fuel only, two tires, and four tires. It would be interesting to see which strategy went on to win the race.
The race went back green and Kyle Busch was able to hold onto the lead. The race went a short time before the second and final caution waved on lap 36. Donnie Neuenberger got loose exiting turn 2 and went down the track. Neuenberger was able to slow down, but he still made contact with the inside wall. Neuenberger went to the garage with a good bit of damage and would not return to the race. Ryan Ellis received the lucky dog. The strategy that decided that race happened under this caution. Kyle Busch, Regan Smith, and others stayed on track while Justin Allgaier came down just for fuel, Brian Vickers and Sam Hornish Jr. came down for two tires, and Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, and others took four tires during the pit stops. It would be interesting to see who took the win with their strategy.
The race went back green and Kyle Busch was able to hold onto the lead. Busch still had not made a pit stop, but his car was still extremely fast. Busch held the lead for a long time before he finally had to make his way to pit road on lap 87. Joey Logano was able to take the lead back. Logano continued to lead as the first round of green flag pit stops of the race began on lap 109. Logano could go a lot longer than the drivers who pitted on lap 109, but Logano decided to come down on lap 116. During the stops, a championship contender had trouble that impacted not only his race, but the championship standings.
Sam Hornish Jr. came to pit road under green for a routine stop. His team did a good job on the stop and Hornish returned to the track. His race would quickly go down hill. Hornish was caught speeding on pit road. He would have to make a pass through penalty on pit road. He would make the pass through and return to the race, but he lost a good many laps and his race was pretty much finished. After the rest of the drivers came down pit road, Kyle Busch was able to inherit the lead. Busch would hold the lead for a good many laps, but Joey Logano was able to pass him on lap 141 for the lead. Busch continued to ride around on track, but he did not have enough fuel to finish the race and had to come to pit road on lap 175. This left only twenty five laps to go and a lot of drivers up at the front of the field not knowing if they had enough fuel to finish the race.
Logano continued to lead as Busch made the move to pit road. Most of the drivers had started to save fuel, but Logano still ran as hard as possible. Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, and Brian Vickers were saving fuel and hoping Logano would run out. Regan Smith and others came to pit road with fifteen laps to go, but the four drivers on the lead lap continued to save fuel and move around the “Monster Mile”. With ten laps to go, Logano still held a healthy advantage over Kyle Larson, but he began to save fuel. The laps clicked off and only five remained. Logano still ran hard and hoped the caution would not wave. Logano finally made it to the white flag and all he had to do was make it around the four turns of the one mile oval. He made it smoothly through turns 1 and 2 and made it to the backstretch. With a healthy advantage, Logano was able to coast through turns 3 and 4 and take his third NASCAR Nationwide Series win of 2013. It was a dominating performance for the Sprint Cup regular, but strategy left a few drivers out of contention.
Joey Logano has had a turn around year. After struggling at Joe Gibbs Racing early in his Cup career, Logano moved to Penske Racing and made the Chase for the first time in his short career. Logano continues his domination of the Nationwide Series even though he is in a different car for a different manufacturer and a different team. At only twenty three years old, Logano still has a lot of greatness left in his career and he could become a first time Cup champion very soon. Kyle Busch once again missed the strategy at Dover. While leading at Dover in June, Busch took four tires while the rest of the leaders took two tires. This put Busch back in the pack with Logano taking the lead. Busch tried to make his way through the field, but he couldn't and Logano would take the win. The same happened today at Dover as Logano took the win after Busch missed the strategy once again. It is hard to believe Busch can't win at Dover after his domination this year and the past few years, but every driver has a track that he can't tame. Kyle Larson continues to impress. He finished second for the third time of the year. With this continuing momentum, Larson could have a very good move to Cup next year. Once again, the points battle began to heat up. Austin Dillon moved within four points of the lead after the struggles of points leader, Sam Hornish Jr., in the race. With only a handful of races remaining, Hornish needs to stay on his game if he is going to win the championship. The series heads to Kansas Speedway next week with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series tagging along. Will Austin Dillon continue to move in on Sam Hornish Jr. for the points lead, will Sam Hornish Jr. extend his points lead, or will another driver move into the championship picture? We will have to wait until next Saturday to find out.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 25- Brian Scott got loose in turn 1 and went for a slide across turn 2.
2nd Caution: Lap 36- Donnie Neuenberger got loose exiting turn 2 and made slight contact with the inside wall.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: T.J. Bell
2nd Caution: Ryan Ellis
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Joey Logano
2nd: Kyle Larson
3rd: Kevin Harvick
4th: Brian Vickers
5th: Elliott Sadler
Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Austin Dillon
8th: Kyle Busch
15th: Regan Smith
17th: Sam Hornish Jr.
22nd: Travis Pastrana
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Thanks once again to Besweeet. Since I do not have ESPN Classic, I was able to watch the first few laps on his stream. Continue to be awesome, Brian. If you guys want a link to his stream, here it is:
http://hashd.tv/besweeet53
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-live.html
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/nationwide-series/lapbylap/view-all-laps.html?intid=lapbylap_lapbylapleaderboard_08292013
http://racing-reference.info/race/2013_5-Hour_Energy_200_(September)/B
-Image:
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/384074126572261376/photo/1/large
No comments:
Post a Comment