Logano, Busch give Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2 finish

Updated: April 20, 2009, 11:48 AM ET

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Joey Logano led a race-high 95 laps en route to his second career Nationwide win Saturday at Nashville.

GLADEVILLE, Tenn. -- Teen star Joey Logano raced to his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series victory, holding off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch in the Pepsi 300 on Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.

The 18-year-old Logano and Busch ran in the top two and traded the lead for most of the race, with Logano leading the final 10 laps and finishing 0.487 seconds in front.

Brad Keselowski, the Nashville winner in June, was third, followed by Kelly Bires in fourth and series leader Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler and David Ragan.

With the exception of two laps under caution, either Logano or Busch led over the final 89 laps on the 1.333-mile track. Some tense moments ensued immediately after Logano claimed the lead for the last time when a crash sent Joe Nemechek's car tumbling near the finish line and brought out the red flag.

"I wasn't too nervous. I was just driving as hard as I could," Logano said. "I knew I had to have a good restart but Kyle had one, too and he was bearing down on me in [Turns] 1 and 2, but he couldn't get out to a lead."

A weekend of wild weather that featured thunderstorms and torrential rain Friday was followed by cloudy conditions that gave way to bright sunshine during the race. And 10 cautions for 40 laps in effect shortened the race.

"We were really good on short runs and that was a factor at the end to get that clean air back on the nose," Logano said. "That worked against Kyle but it's really cool to have a 1-2 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing and it's a big deal for the guys at the shop."

Despite his second-place finish, Busch was noticeably angry after the race. He has run well at Nashville, but has won only once -- in 2003 in an ARCA race.

"He had a better short run car and we were better on the long run," Busch said. "It's just a shame we weren't able to get out there and win this thing. It's kind of frustrating."

Logano led nine times for a race-high 95 laps. Busch led six times for 77.

Edwards led three times for 45 laps and was in contention until loose lug nuts forced him to pit under green just past the halfway mark. Edwards, who has three Nationwide wins at Nashville, was shuffled back to 20th.

Defending race champion Scott Wimmer started 29th and never challenged for the lead en route to an 11th-place finish. He also touched off a caution on lap 124 when he exited his pit stall with the catch can attached before dropping it in Turn 3.

A crowd that appeared to be half of the announced 25,000 turned out for the race. Many took advantage of the track's new All Access promotion that includes prerace access to the garage, frontstretch and drivers' meeting.

Busch was not particularly pleased with how the promotion played out.

"There were a lot of people with a lot more access than typical," Busch said. "Some fans need to respect the drivers a little more because they're bringing suitcases of diecasts for us to sign. Yeah, it's our job to sign for the fans and to treat them nice, but when they have three suitcases, that's a little ridiculous."

Logano won last year at Kentucky.

"We spent a lot more hours working on the car than we did sleeping," said Dave Rogers, Logano's crew chief. "We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how much to tighten up the front side and how free to leave the back side. We couldn't do both so we just tried to shoot the gap.

"We got the win, but in hindsight, we probably got it a little too good on the front and not good enough on the back so the cautions did play in to our favor. We adjusted according to the conditions and just kept tweaking it out, little by little, as the race wore on."

Sprint Cup Series: Next stop ... Phoenix

The Cup Series took the Easter weekend off and will resume Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway.

Camping World Truck Series: Bring on Kansas

The Trucks were off this past weekend. Their next race is at Kansas on April 25.

-- The Associated Press


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Racing Resources Says …

Nationwide Series

Joey Logano

Logano

  • Joey Logano won the Nashville 300 at Nashville Superspeedway. Logano scored his second Nationwide victory in his 24th start -- his other win came at Kentucky (20 starts between).
  • Logano led nine times for a race-high 95 laps, including the final 10. It's the first time he had led the most laps in his 24 Nationwide races.
  • Both of Logano's series wins came with crew chief Dave Rogers, who has 16 career wins.
  • Kyle Busch, who finished second, gave Joe Gibbs Racing its third 1-2 finish in the series. Busch finished second all three times.
  • Toyota posted its 25th Nationwide victory and first at Nashville. It is its third win of 2009.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing scored its 31st series victory and first at Nashville. The win is JGR's third win in the first six races of 2009. JGR led 172 of the 225 laps in Saturday's race. JGR has led 670 of the 1,204 laps run in 2009 (56 percent).
  • Kelly Bires, who finished fourth, scored his best career finish in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. car. It ties the best finish for KHI at Nashville (Tony Raines finished fourth in June 2005).
  • There were a record-tying 19 lead changes -- 15 between Logano and Busch.
  • Four drivers made their Nationwide debut: Brian Scott (25th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (23rd), Tim Andrews (33rd), Benny Gordon (36th).
  • Scott Lagasse (10th) was the highest-finishing rookie contender among the seven rookies in the race.
  • The top 10 consisted of four Toyotas, four Chevrolets and two Fords. The highest-finishing Dodge was Dennis Setzer in 20th.
  • Carl Edwards, who finished fourth, continues to lead the points by 23 over Kyle Busch.

-- Racing Resources