Logano Wins Record-Breaking Race
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

JOLIET, Ill. -- It would have been hard to find more than two people at Chicagoland Speedway who thought crew chief Dave Rogers' final call was the right one.

Even driver Joey Logano had his doubts. But Logano streaked to victory in Friday night's Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race, vindicating Rogers' decision to keep Logano on the track during a late caution in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Logano, who led a race-high 96 laps, stayed out on old tires during the second and final caution of the race -- called on Lap 185 because of debris -- as did Jason Leffler. After the restart on Lap 192, Logano pulled away from teammate Kyle Busch, who took two tires under the caution.

"I can't believe it, dude -- he's driving away from me!" Busch radioed after the final restart.

In fact, Logano pulled away to win by 2.619 seconds over Busch, who nevertheless extended his lead in the Nationwide standings to 192 points over sixth-place finisher Carl Edwards. Brian Vickers ran third, followed by Leffler and Kevin Harvick.

"We thought we got beat there at the end," said Logano, who won his third race of the season and his first at Chicagoland. "Everybody else took tires except for the 38 (Leffler)… But the clean air was big."

Busch conceded that his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate had the superior car. Busch's Toyota was too loose for the driver's liking.

"Joey had a better car than us tonight," said Busch, who has two wins and four runner-up finishes in his last six starts. "I just couldn't charge the corner (because of the loose condition), and I feel like that's where I was getting beat."

Brad Keselowski's championship hopes suffered a severe blow when he ran out of fuel before pitting on Lap 57 during the first green-flag run of the race. Keselowski lost two laps before his crew could get the stalled No. 88 Chevrolet refired. Though he rallied for an 18th-place finish and held third in the Nationwide standings, Keselowski fell 334 points behind Busch.

The same fate befell Ryan Newman, Keselowski's teammate-for-a day at JR Motorsports. Newman was out of gas when he pitted from the lead on Lap 57 and lost a lap in the pits. He finished 22nd.

Note: The average speed of 147.340 mph was a race record, breaking Busch's record of 144.443 mph from last year. The race also set records for fewest cautions (two) and fewest caution laps (11)

Unofficial Race Results click here

Unofficial Point Standings click here

Fast Facts

The Race: Dollar General 300 Powered By Coca-Cola
The Place: Chicagoland Speedway
The Date: Friday, July 10
The Time: 9 p.m. AT
The Distance: 300 miles / 200 laps
TV: ESPN & TSN2, 8:30 p.m. AT
Radio: Sirius NASCAR Radio / MRN
2008 Race Winner: Kyle Busch
2008 Polesitter: David Reutimann
Event Schedule (all times CT): Thursday – Practice 2:30-3:50 p.m.; 6-7:25 p.m. Friday – Qualifying 2:05 p.m.
Year-To-Date Results & Standings: click here

Starting Lineup

Complete Starting Lineup click here Track Map

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Event Preview

• Chicagoland: A Track Of Firsts For Series Competitors...In 2001, Jimmie Johnson scored his first and only career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Chicagoland Speedway, driving a car for Stanley Herzog. Five years later, Casey Mears earned his first career national series win, also in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Needless to say, Johnson – who spent two full seasons in the NASCAR Nationwide Series – has climbed the ladder to great heights in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, having won the last three championships. Mears, who spent the entire 2002 season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, is in his seventh full season in the premier series and registered his first win in 2007. Fulltime series-only regulars Johnny Sauter (2002) and Justin Labonte (2004) also won their first NASCAR Nationwide races there. With so many series firsts at the Joliet, Ill. track, who and what are next? Will a driver register his initial Chicagoland victory, or will someone win their first career NASCAR Nationwide race there? Kevin Harvick (No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet) is the only driver to win multiple times at Chicago, winning in 2005 and ‘07, and Ryan Newman (No. 5 Fastenal Chevrolet) is the only driver to win multiple poles there. Standings leader Kyle Busch (No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota) comes in with five wins on the year, which leads the series. He had four at this stage one year ago and left the Windy City area with a NASCAR Nationwide / NASCAR Sprint Cup weekend sweep. But the odds may be in favor of first-timers in this one since there has yet to be a driver to post consecutive wins there. The same is true with the pole position. And, no driver has won from the NASCAR Nationwide pole at Chicagoland.
• RCR Looking To Daytona Win As Catapult for Second-Half...NASCAR has competed at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., since 2001. And for one reason or another, the 1.5-mile track has been kind to Richard Childress Racing, which owns a NASCAR Nationwide Series-leading three victories there, as well as the first two in NASCAR Sprint Cup action. Friday’s night’s Dollar General 300 comes on the heels of RCR’s first victory in over 15 months, and gives the Welcome, N.C.-based team its first chance at consecutive victories since Clint Bowyer and Scott Wimmer triumphed at Bristol Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway in April 2008. Bowyer, the 2008 series champion, dominated the Subway Jalapeño 250 last week at Daytona International Speedway in his final series appearance of 2009. His name will be on the car for the remainder of the season now that he’s won the wager with the team’s other two drivers – Jeff Burton (No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet) and Stephen Leicht – as the team’s best performing driver during the first half of the year. Burton, meanwhile, will compete at Chicagoland. Two of the organization’s victories there were by Kevin Harvick, now driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for his Kevin Harvick Inc. team, and the other by Johnny Sauter.
• Allgaier Heads Home With Lead...Illinois native Justin Allgaier heads home for a two-race swing as the leader in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. He’s opened up a small advantage over second-place Brendan Gaughan (No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet). Scott Lagasse Jr. (No. 11 America’s Incredible Pizza Co Toyota) had success at the track last year, winning the ARCA race.
• Ten drivers have won races this season. But only three — Kyle Busch, Joey Logano (No. 20 GameStop Toyota) and Greg Biffle (No. 16 CitiFinancial Ford) have multiple victories. Busch also owns a series-high 14 top 10s.
• Matt Carter (No. 61 Specialty Racing Ford) finished 15th at Daytona, the best finish for the team since its “re-debut” at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2007.
• A total of 105 drivers have made at least one start in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition.
• Only three drivers — Busch, Keselowski and Steve Wallace (No. 66 USFidelis Chevrolet), have finished in the top 15 in the last three races.
• Trevor Bayne (No. 99 Aaron’s Toyota) returns to the series at Chicagoland; he will compete in eight more races following this weekend’s event. Bayne, 18, has four starts thus far and has finished 12th twice. He also started on the outside pole twice.

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.