Joey Logano Wins At Charlotte To Advance In NASCAR’s Chase

With a dominating victory in Sunday’s (OCt. 11, 2015) rain-delayed Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Joey Logano punched an early-bird ticket to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford led 227 of the 334 laps and crossed the finish line .703 seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick, who posted his 11th runner-up finish of the season to go with three victories.

The win was Logano’s fourth of the season, his first at Charlotte and the 12th of his career. Most important, however, was the free pass into the Eliminator Round. Now Logano can take a carefree trip to unpredictable Talladega two weeks hence.

"This makes Talladega way easier," Logano said. "I know that’s on everyone’s mind when this round starts, and last year we won Kansas when it was the first race of this round and now we were able to get it this time at Charlotte. We’ll get lots of sleep here the next couple of weeks."

"I think everyone saw how fast he [Harvick] was last week and it probably made a lot of people nervous, but our team kept their heads up and stayed confident," Logano said. "We know we can beat them. We know we’ve got what we need over here, and our team is as tight-knit as they get.

"I’m proud of them. I couldn’t be more proud of them. We had a lot of money stops today to keep us out front. The pit stops were great and I couldn’t be more proud of what they’re doing right now."

Denny Hamlin ran fourth, followed by Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards. Seventh-place finisher Austin Dillon was the only non-Chase driver in the top nine, with Jeff Gordon coming home eighth in his last ride at the 1.5-mile speedway and Brad Keselowski nursing his No. 2 Ford to the finish line in ninth, after feeling a vibration in the left rear of his car.

Kenseth, the polesitter, led 72 laps in the early going before a litany of issues ultimately knocked him out of the race in 42nd place and left him in dire jeopardy of elimination from the Chase.

IOWA DRIVERS: Landon Cassill (Fairfax, IA) was the highest finishing driver from Iowa coming home 23rd. Michael Anette (Des Moines, IA) finished just two spots back in 25th. Brett Moffitt (Grimes, IA) finished the day in 30th position. Moffitt continues to lead the 2015 Sunoco Rookie of the year points with six races left in the season.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race
Bank of America 500
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Sunday, October 11, 2015

1. (3) Joey Logano, Ford, 334, $329873.
2. (11) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 334, $240750.
3. (15) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 334, $172320.
4. (5) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 334, $147225.
5. (6) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 334, $139150.
6. (8) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 334, $117040.
7. (14) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 334, $141151.
8. (22) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 334, $144701.
9. (13) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 334, $136681.
10. (9) Aric Almirola, Ford, 334, $133651.
11. (23) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 334, $124198.
12. (30) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 334, $117891.
13. (25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 334, $94850.
14. (16) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 334, $80200.
15. (10) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 334, $115475.
16. (17) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 334, $114033.
17. (18) Sam Hornish Jr., Ford, 333, $117470.
18. (21) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 333, $104733.
19. (24) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 333, $88575.
20. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 333, $132066.
21. (31) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 333, $107258.
22. (33) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 332, $120100.
23. (34) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 332, $78625.
24. (4) Greg Biffle, Ford, 331, $111808.
25. (38) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 331, $77945.
26. (36) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 331, $104859.
27. (29) David Gilliland, Ford, 330, $99453.
28. (12) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 330, $93495.
29. (40) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 330, $90028.
30. (37) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 330, $77635.
31. (32) Michael McDowell, Ford, 329, $73420.
32. (27) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 329, $82742.
33. (35) JJ Yeley(i), Toyota, 328, $73070.
34. (43) Alex Kennedy #, Chevrolet, 326, $72945.
35. (42) Reed Sorenson, Ford, 325, $72795.
36. (26) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 325, $80615.
37. (19) David Ragan, Toyota, Engine, 289, $99695.
38. (39) Cole Whitt, Ford, Accident, 262, $67602.
39. (7) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Engine, 257, $112066.
40. (28) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 251, $67530.
41. (41) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, 244, $55530.
42. (1) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Accident, 236, $124166.
43. (20) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, Accident, 58, $66030.