CONCORD, N.C. -- After rain delayed the Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, Joey Logano put on a dominating performance to become the first race winner in the three-race second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
"What a great car," Logano said. "We led a ton of laps, and I just have to thank Ford and Shell and AutoTrader, SKF, Coca-Cola, everyone that supports what we're doing. This makes Talladega (the final race of the second round) way easier. I know that's on everyone's mind when this round starts, and last year, we won Kansas when it was the first race of this round and now we were able to get it this time at Charlotte. We'll get lots of sleep here the next couple of weeks."
Kevin Harvick finished second. He was the only driver seemingly able to keep up with Logano for any significant amount of time after taking over the second position on a restart following a lap 194 caution. But late in the race, not even Harvick had anything for Logano as Logano pulled away in the closing laps.
"We could hang with him (Logano), but I would just lose him every once in a while in traffic," Harvick said. "It was just extremely hard to pass. But all in all, we weren't very good all weekend, and the guys just did a great job on pit road and made our car better throughout the day and were able to make our Jimmy John's/Budweiser Chevrolet better as we went on, so I'm just really proud of that. And if those are the off days, we'll be just fine."
Despite Harvick's dominance in the last two races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon and at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, including his win at Dover, Logano wasn't worried about seeing Harvick in his rearview.
"I think everyone saw how fast he (Harvick) was last week, and it probably made a lot of people nervous, but our team kept their heads up and stayed confident. We know we can beat them. We know we've got what we need over here and our team is as tight-knit as they get. I'm proud of them. I couldn't be more proud of them."
Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five.
Logano was one of seven drivers who stayed out during the fourth caution of the race on lap 75 that came as a result of Dale Earnhardt Jr. hitting the wall because of a tire issue. Logano inherited the race lead from Matt Kenseth by staying out. Logano led most of the remaining laps of the 334-lap race, except for laps during cycles of green-flag pit stops. During the final green-flag cycle of stops that started with about 55 laps remaining, Sam Hornish Jr., off-cycle, stayed out several laps longer to lead before finally heading for pit road, handing the lead back over to Logano at lap 300.
"We had a great car," Logano said. "Todd Gordon (crew chief) and this Shell/Pennzoil team, All of Team Penske, you always want to win it. Charlotte is everybody's home turf, and you want to make it happen here."
Earnhardt was the second Hendrick Motorsports driver to see his chances of a race win fly out the window because of a tire issue. Kahne fell off the pace and made an unscheduled pit stop on lap 40 after blowing a tire. As a result, he went two laps down. He exited the race completely after a second tire issue sent Kahne into the wall, bringing out a yellow flag on lap 61.
A third of the four-driver Hendrick stable, Jimmie Johnson, had trouble of his own in the final third of the race. Johnson got into the top-five by staying out during a yellow flag in the first half of the race and ran in the top-three through a significant portion of the race before an engine issue sent him to the garage with just under 80 laps to go.
Kenseth started on the pole and led most of the way before pitting and handing over the lead to Logano. A slow pit stop when his jackman slipped and others remaining on the race track relegated Kenseth to 13th for the restart. He worked his way back into the top-10 before getting caught up in an on-track incident with Ryan Newman with just over 155 laps to go. Then, with just under 100 laps to go, Kenseth slammed into the wall because of a right-front tire issue.
Kyle Larson got into the top-five of the running order before the halfway point of the race, but significant contact with Kyle Busch at the entrance of pit road when the race was already under the seventh caution of the race before lap 200. Damage to both cars took both drivers out of contention for the race win. Busch had run in the top-five throughout the race to that point.
NOTES: The Bank of America 500 is the fourth race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup but the first race of the second round, also known as the Contender Round. ... Hendrick Motorsports won nine of the last 12 races at Charlotte prior to Sunday's race. ... Carl Edwards won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May after Martin Truex Jr. led a race-high 131 laps. ... Kevin Harvick, winner of last weekend's AAA 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, won last year's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte. ... Sprint Cup Series driver Austin Dillon won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Charlotte on Friday night. Another Sprint Cup regular, Kyle Busch, led more than half of Friday's Xfinity race, leading 102 of 200 laps before getting caught up in a wreck with Kasey Kahne.
