While the hometown boy, Trevor Bayne, captured the pole for the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night, it was Joey Logano and the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota of Joe Gibbs Racing that ended up in victory lane.
- Advertisement -
I guess you could say it was a little NCAA rivarly. Bayne being from Tennessee and Logano from Connecticut, and if you ever followed NCAA Women’s Basketball, then you know the two state schools are rivals and most definitely play each other in March.
The win would be Logano’s first at Bristol Motor Speedway and his sixth victory of the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series, a single-season career high. This is also Logano’s 15th victory in 103 Nationwide starts.
- Advertisement -
This is the second race on Bristol’s new surface since the million dollar facelift, which definitely produced a slightly different race than the trucks on Wednesday night. Prior to the race, rain would rub the rubber off the track, causing NASCAR to call a competition caution 50 laps into the race.
Many of the cautions, there were nine total, included minor spins and hits into the wall. Austin Dillion would cause two cautions, the first coming out on Lap 4 against Justin Allgaier and the other would come out with nine laps to go when he got into the back of Bayne and spun him as well as Kasey Kahne.
- Advertisement -
In victory lane, Logano couldn’t believe he was there. Upon getting out of his car, the first word out of his mouth was “FINALLY!”
“We’ve been so close to winning here,” Logano said. “It feels so good to get here in victory lane. It’s Bristol – one of the top three or four race tracks to win at.”
Following Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon and point leader Elliott Sadler, who now is 19 points ahead of Stenhouse in second.
After the race, Trevor Bayne confronted Austin Dillon on pit road. According to members of the media who have seen the video from SPEED, it got pretty heated, both drivers kinda grabbed each other, Richard Childress(Austin Dillon’s grandfather and team owner) stepped in, and both drivers parted ways. Childress didn’t have to take his watch off, but Dillon did keep his signature cowboy hat on. Stay tuned to TSB for the latest on this developing story.
The next race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is Saturday, September 1st at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Unofficial Race Results:
1. Joey Logano
2. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr
3. Kyle Busch
4. Austin Dillon
5. Elliott Sadler
6. Cole Whitt
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Michael Annett
9. Danica Patrick
10. Sam Hornish, Jr.
11. Joe Nemechek
12. Tayler Malsham
13. Mike Bliss
14. Kasey Kahne
15. Kevin Harvick
16. Trevor Bayne
17. Mike Bliss
18. Jason Bowles
19. Josh Richards
20. Kevin Lepage
21. Nelson Piquet Jr(
22. Benny Gordon
23. John Wes Townley
24. Robert Richardson, Jr.
25. Timmy Hill
26. Brad Teague
27. Eric McClure
28. Fain Skinner
29. Johanna Long
30. Justin Allgaier
31. Joey Gase
32. Brad Keselowski
33. Joey Clements
34. Brian Scott
35. Erik Darnell
36. Rick Crawford
37. Carl Long
38. Scott Riggs
39. David Starr
40. Josh Wise
41. Tim Andrews
42. Jeff Green
43. Chase Miller
