Sunday, October 18, 2020

Logano Holds off Harvick to Win at Kansas

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Joey Logano won the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the Championship Round of the NASCAR Playoffs.

Logano took the lead on the final restart, and he held off Kevin Harvick over the final 30-lap run.

Harvick had a faster car throughout the race, but Logano was able to block him over the final run to pick up his first victory since NASCAR returned from their COVID shutdown.

Logano said he was focused on his mirror throughout the final run to block any runs from Harvick.

“I thought if I could hold him off those first 15 laps, I’d have a chance,” Logano said.  “Dirty air was best for us.  When we caught lapped traffic, we were able to gap ourselves as he got more dirty air.”

Logano said the victory reminds him of 2018, when he locked himself in to the final round of the Playoffs early.

“It was on my mind every lap,” Logano said.  “You come into this race knowing if you can win this thing you’ve got an amazing advantage.  We’re going to Phoenix; we’re racing for a championship again.”

Harvick said he needed to beat Logano off pit road if he was going to win.

“It came down to controlling that restart there and we lost the lead,” Harvick said.  “We weren’t the best behind somebody.  Good run for us; wish we could have won but one short.”

Unofficial results:

1. Joey Logano

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Alex Bowman

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Kyle Busch

6. Chase Elliott

7. Ryan Blaney

8. William Byron

9. Martin Truex Jr.

10. Christopher Bell

11. Austin Dillon

12. Matt DiBenedetto

13. Aric Almirola

14. Cole Custer

15. Denny Hamlin

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. John Hunter Nemechek

18. Bubba Wallace

19. Michael McDowell

20. Erik Jones

21. Chris Buescher

22. Ryan Newman

23. Corey LaJoie

24. Ty Dillon

25. Tyler Reddick

26. Clint Bowyer

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Brennan Poole

29. Ryan Preece

30. JJ Yeley

31. Jimmie Johnson

32. James Davison

33. Quin Houff

34. Timmy Hill

35. Josh Bilicki

36. Reed Sorenson

37. Joey Gase

38. Kurt Busch

39. Chad Finchum

40. Matt Kenseth

Photo courtesy Chris Graythen (Getty Images)



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