Joey Logano Wins at Watkins Glen

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Joey Logano won the Cheez-It 355 from Watkins-Glen International following a last-lap pass on Sunday afternoon. 

Logano passed Kevin Harvick in the final corners after he ran out of gas coming to take the checkered flag.  Logano said he was unsure whether he could get by Harvick on the final lap.

Photo courtesy Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

“I felt pretty sure the 4 [of Harvick] was going to run out, but it got to the last lap and I’m like ‘shoot he’s not running out,’” Logano said.  “Right at the end I was able to get by him.”

Logano picked up the sweep of the weekend following his Xfinity Series victory on Saturday, and it comes a week after he ran out of gas while leading at Pocono.

“First time I swept the weekend, we never thought it’d happen at a road course,” Logano said.  “Makes up for last week; we lost the race this way and now we won one this way.”

Harvick was two corners away from the victory when he ran out of gas, but he was still able to finish third.  Harvick said his team has had fast cars and that they’re looking forward to the Chase.

“I thought I’d done a pretty good job of saving fuel under the caution and really I was just running as fast as I needed to protect the lead,” Harvick said.  “That’s just kind of how this middle of the season has gone.  We’ve had really fast cars but the circumstances have just gotten the best of us.”

After running out a lap from the finish at Pocono, Kyle Busch was able to finish second at Watkins Glen.  Busch is now 30th in points, which grants him a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup following his four victories since his return in May.

“We definitely didn’t want to run out again; we wanted to make sure we could make it to the end,” Busch said.  “We knew we would be [top 30 in points], it was just a matter of time.  That was probably another reason we didn’t need to run out of gas and have an issue here today.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Kyle Busch

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Matt Kenseth

5. Kurt Busch

6. Clint Bowyer

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Carl Edwards

9. Sam Hornish Jr.

10. Jimmie Johnson

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

12. Kyle Larson

13. Paul Menard

14. Greg Biffle

15. Ryan Newman

16. Aric Almirola

17. Danica Patrick

18. Casey Mears

19. Justin Allgaier

20. Michael McDowell

21. Cole Whitt

22. Trevor Bayne

23. David Ragan

24. AJ Allmendinger

25. Martin Truex Jr.

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Denny Hamlin

28. Alex Kennedy

29. Alex Bowman

30. J.J. Yeley

31. Michael Annett

32. Boris Said

33. David Gilliland

34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

35. Landon Cassill

36. Austin Dillon

37. Chris Buescher

38. Timmy Hill

39. Jeb Burton

40. Jamie McMurray

41. Jeff Gordon

42. Kasey Kahne

43. Tony Stewart

Photo courtesy Daniel Shirey/Getty Images