BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Joey Logano claimed his third win of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season on Saturday night in the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"We're hitting it at the right time, that's for sure," Logano said. "There was a point in the season that we were racing top-10 a lot, but not necessarily for the win. I feel like we're right where we need to be, just like we were last year at this point. I can't wait for the Chase to start."
It was Logano's second straight win in the Bristol night race.
Kevin Harvick overcame two pit-road penalties, one for his crew going over the wall too soon and a second for speeding, to battle Logano during the final green-flag stretch of the 500-lap race after an eighth yellow flag with 70 laps to go. It was a futile battle, with Logano maintaining the lead and Harvick finishing second.
"I've just got to thank everybody on the Jimmy John's/Budweiser team for just doing what they had to do to stick this out," Harvick said. "I made a mistake there on pit road and got us behind and just didn't get our Budweiser Chevy through traffic like Joey did. There were a couple of times when it was pretty close, but I wasn't letting off the gas. I just needed to be a little bit closer to him to make something happen."
Logano lost the lead on pit road when a crewman dropped a right-rear lug nut on a pit stop during a yellow flag on Lap 251. Carl Edwards restarted with the lead.
Kyle Busch, Edwards' Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, took the lead on Lap 281. He battled back and forth with Edwards for the top spot before Busch was forced to make a green-flag pit stop because of a loose wheel just before Lap 350.
Edwards had to pit under green a few laps later for a cut right-front tire, handing the lead back to Logano.
Logano ran up front from that point on except when Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski stayed out during the final caution.
"Kyle was good at times; the 2 (Keselowski) was good at times; the 19 (Edwards) was really good at times," Logano said. "It was interesting how many cars were up front, but the Shell/Pennzoil Ford stayed up there consistently the whole day, and our team just executed. That's what we did, and that's what we do every week. We just try to keep our heads calm and cool and just run our race."
Logano retook the top spot when the race returned to green, and Harvick soon joined him up front by passing Keselowski.
"It was kind of interesting to watch it in the mirror," Logano said. "I was watching him drive in, and I was like, 'He's going to get me eventually,' so I just wanted to make sure I stayed at least three or four car lengths up on him so he didn't get to me."
Denny Hamlin finished third, Jimmie Johnson took fourth for his first top five since the race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July, and Clint Bowyer finished fifth.
Logano was the leader at the halfway point on Lap 250. He took the lead from Busch on Lap 225, becoming the first non-Joe Gibbs Racing driver to lead the race. Up to that point, Busch and Hamlin had combined to lead all laps.
"Pretty good run for us, but we just didn't have the speed those guys had there those last couple runs and just fought the balance of the car, really all day," Hamlin said. "Either way, a decent day, but we expect a little bit more out of our FedEx Ground Toyota, but still a third-place ain't too bad."
NOTES: Sprint Cup Series regulars Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin finished first, second and third in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night. Busch led 89 laps and Hamlin 106 in the Xfinity race, scheduled for 300 laps but extended to 302. ... Joe Gibbs Racing swept the top three in qualifying for the second consecutive weekend. At Bristol, Hamlin started on the pole, Busch was second and Carl Edwards was third. Hamlin's 131.407 mph pole-winning lap was a track qualifying record. ... Another Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Matt Kenseth, won the last time the Sprint Cup Series visited Bristol, in April. Joey Logano won the 2014 Irwin Tools Night race. ... Kenseth also headed into Saturday as the series' most recent winner, Aug. 16 at Michigan International Speedway. Joe Gibbs Racing had won six of the last eight races leading up to Bristol.
