Joey Logano celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Darlington Raceway on Friday. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images for NASCAR
For Joey Logano, Friday night’s victory in the VFW Sport Clips 200 Nationwide Series event at Darlington Raceway was tinged with regret.
Yes, Logano drove away from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin after a green-white-checkered-flag restart to win his second straight race in the series and third of the season.
But Logano got the opportunity for his 12th career victory only after a well-intentioned bump went awry and wrecked championship contender Elliott Sadler on a restart with five laps left in regulation distance.
“Obviously, this win was a little bittersweet — you don’t want to win ’em that way,” said Logano, who called Sadler after the race to apologize and left a voice mail. “Your heart drops. You know he’s running for points.
“Your heart drops a little bit, but at the same time, you’ve got to put it behind you, go out there and do your job and win the race.”
Hamlin, who complained of an engine problem during the final two laps, finished .256 seconds behind Logano in the runner-up position. Brad Keselowski ran third, followed by Sam Hornish Jr. and rookie Austin Dillon, as the race went four laps past its scheduled distance of 147 laps.
Danica Patrick finished 12th and Travis Pastrana 17th, both on the lead lap in their Darlington debuts.
Logano was trying to push Sadler and keep him in the lead on a restart on lap 143, but Sadler’s No. 2 moved up the track to the right and turned across the nose of Hamlin’s Camry, which was running in the outside lane.
After slamming into the wall near the entry to turn 1, Sadler’s car was too hobbled to continue, leaving him in 24th place at the finish and dropping him to 23 points behind series leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who started on the pole and finished sixth.
“I was trying to help him,” Logano said of the contact with Sadler’s car. “Two restarts before that I successfully helped him and got him out front. The next restart was the same situation — he was first; I was third — and I started to push him.
“He did take two tires, so I think he spun his tires some, and I was trying to shove him ahead. . . . He may have been trying to go up in front of Denny, or he was spinning the tires, and I had him crossed up, but once he turned sideways, I couldn’t get off him.”
Sadler’s crash caused the sixth caution of the race and forced overtime, with the field taking the green flag on lap 150. Logano powered past his teammate into the lead.
“We lost a cylinder, and that’s why we didn’t take off,” said Hamlin, who led 103 of the 151 laps. “We just can’t keep dominating these races and not win ’em.”
Hamlin led Kurt Busch by more than five seconds when the right-front tire on Busch’s No. 54 Toyota blew on lap 126, shooting the nose of the car into the outside wall. The resulting caution brought the top cars to pit road, with Sadler grabbing the lead with a two-tire stop under the yellow.
Before the caution, the fourth of the race, Hamlin had dominated. Busch took the lead briefly with a bold three-wide move on a Lap 51 restart, but Hamlin regained the top spot on lap 53 and began to pull away.
His advantage over Busch grew to nearly seven seconds through a cycle of green-flag stops, before Busch’s tire blew to bring out the yellow flag. Ultimately, Busch recovered to finish eighth, despite the damage his car suffered when he hit the wall.
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
VFW Sport Clips 200 – May 11, 2012
1. (5) Joey Logano, Toyota, 151.
2. (2) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 151.
3. (13) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 151.
4. (8) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 151.
5. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 151.
6. (1) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 151.
7. (7) Brian Scott, Toyota, 151.
8. (4) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 151.
9. (14) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 151.
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11. (16) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 151.
12. (15) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 151.
13. (10) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 151.
14. (22) Michael Annett, Ford, 151.
15. (12) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 151.
16. (31) Timmy Hill, Ford, 151.
17. (25) Travis Pastrana, Toyota, 151.
18. (9) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 151.
19. (26) Jeff Green, Toyota, 149.
20. (36) Danny Efland, Chevrolet, 148.
21. (32) Jason Bowles, Toyota, 148.
22. (37) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, 147.
23. (28) Jamie Dick, Chevrolet, 144.
24. (6) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, Accident, 143.
25. (19) Josh Richards, Ford, 143.
26. (11) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, Accident, 138.
27. (42) Derrike Cope, Dodge, 138.
28. (41) Matt Frahm, Ford, Engine, 125.
29. (20) Erik Darnell, Chevrolet, Clutch, 91.
30. (21) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 81.
31. (30) Tayler Malsam, Toyota, Transmission, 60.
32. (18) TJ Bell, Chevrolet, Accident, 44.
33. (23) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 42.
34. (35) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, Electrical, 29.
35. (43) Kevin Lepage, Chevrolet, Engine, 25.
36. (34) Tony Raines, Toyota, Vibration, 14.
37. (39) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, Brakes, 10.
38. (38) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, Vibration, 7.
39. (24) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, Electrical, 7.
40. (27) Casey Roderick, Chevrolet, Accident, 3.
41. (29) Chase Miller, Chevrolet, Accident, 2.
42. (33) Scott Speed, Chevrolet, Clutch, 2.
43. (17) Ryan Blaney, Chevrolet, Accident, 1.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 112.017 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 50 Mins, 29 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 0.255 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 6 for 32 laps.
Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Stenhouse Jr. 1-18; D. Hamlin 19-41; J. Logano 42; D. Hamlin 43-50; K. Busch 51-52; D. Hamlin 53-90; K. Busch 91; J. Logano 92; B. Gaughan 93; J. Allgaier 94-101; D. Hamlin 102-128; E. Sadler 129-142; D. Hamlin 143-149; J. Logano 150-151.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin 5 times for 103 laps; R. Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 18 laps; E. Sadler 1 time for 14 laps; J. Allgaier 1 time for 8 laps; J. Logano 3 times for 4 laps; K. Busch 2 times for 3 laps; B. Gaughan 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: R. Stenhouse Jr. – 364; E. Sadler – 341; A. Dillon – 329; S. Hornish Jr. – 305; C. Whitt – 282; M. Annett – 271; J. Allgaier – 260; M. Bliss – 230; J. Nemechek – 222; D. Patrick – 219.
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