Nationwide Series – Meijer 300 presented by Ritz 6/12/10

Joey Logano made history Saturday night by pulling the perfect trifecta at Kentucky Speedway!

photo credit: Grant Halverson/Getty Images

“I just love this track,” Logano said. “This place suits my driving style and it has shown, winning here now three years in a row.  Now, I am hoping that we are able to get a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at this track in the near future so I can keep this hot streak going there as well. I just can’t get over that we have won again.  This is pretty sweet.”

Logano has won three straight Kentucky races from the pole! Or rather, Logano has won every Nationwide Series from the pole that he has entered!

“I don’t know what it is about this place, but I guess I really like it,” joked Logano. “I never really thought we’d go two-for-two.  And now to go three-for-three at this place is pretty amazing.  I also won a Legends car race here when I was just 12 (the Young Lions Nationals), so I guess I’m really four-for-four at this place.  I can now call Kentucky my favorite racetrack for sure.”

Logano led 5 times for a race high 106 laps, however he had to work for the win over the closing laps. Logano lost his lead after the last two restarts of the race.

“Of all of my Nationwide Series wins, this might be the most special of them, because I really hard to work for this one,” Logano said. “We knew that the rain was coming and Kevin (Kidd, crew chief) kept telling me that I needed to make sure I got into the lead and stayed there, in case the rains came before we got all 200 laps in.  Then, on that late restart, the #62 (Brendan Gaughan) got a good jump on me and took the lead, but I just took my time and got back around him.  From then on out, it was just trying to stay up front and not make any mistakes.  I saw that Carl (Edwards) was coming, but I moved my line around a little bit and was able to start to pull away from him late in that run.”

The threat of severe weather just a few miles out. It seemed like it was only by luck that they were able to get every one of the 200 laps in.

“I thought we were going to get him,” runner-up Carl Edwards said referring to the closing laps of the race. “He just did a really good job of driving smart. His car was just a little bit faster.”

Edwards pulled double duty and flew in from Michigan where the Sprint Cup Series are racin’ this weekend. He moved up one spot in the standings to second, 272 points behind the series points leader, Brad Keselowski.

Keselowski also pulled double duty for the weekend and left Kentucky with a third place finish.

“We came away and brought home a solid finish with our Discount Tire Dodge Charger,” Keselowski said. “We just keep plugging away every race. Solid finishes, we’re just trying to make no mistakes and get solid finishes and maybe I can keep that points lead. Carl (Edwards) finished one spot ahead of us (tonight), but if we keep finishing with top-fives every week there’s no way that he’ll catch us. It’s something to be proud of to take away a solid finish when we were just a little bit off.”

Brendan Gaughan finished 4th followed by Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, Scott Wimmer, Justin Allgaier, Scott Riggs and Colin Braun completed the top-10.

For the (unofficial) race results, click here (nascar.com)

There were 10 cautions for 51 laps and 11 lead changes among 8 drivers: J. Logano 1-22, K. Lepage 23, B. Coleman 24-25, R. Sorenson 26-74, J. Logano 75-114, J. Allgaier 115-134, S. Wimmer 135-142, J. Logano 143-155, M. Bliss 156-168, J. Logano 169-174, B. Gaughan 175, J. Logano 176-200

With the threat of severe weather just a few miles out, it was by luck that they were able to get every one of the 200 laps in.