Race report

NASCAR Cup Las Vegas

Logano narrowly beats Keselowski in Penske 1-2 at Las Vegas

Reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano held off his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski for his first win of the 2019 season.

Jim Utter

Edited: Mar 4, 2019, 3:14 AM

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Race Winner Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Pennzoil

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Pennzoil, Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Discount Tire and Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Menards/Pennzoil Ford

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Discount Tire

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Pennzoil

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Chocolate Bar

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Discount Tire

Keselowski got a big run coming through Turn 3 and briefly got side-by-side with Logano off Turn 4 before Logano was able to block his advance and hang on for the win in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400.

The win is Logano’s first of the season, 22nd of his career and first at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"I told everyone from Pennzoil today - this race is bigger than the Daytona 500 for them - and I said we're going to do doughnuts on that giant infield logo after the race and we were able to do it," Logano said.

"What a great race. Brad and I were so evenly matched and you just can't drive away. In the last five or six laps, Brad was catching me so quick and I got stuck behind a lapped car. Man, it was so close. Lot of fun, my hearts still running hard.

"It's a nice feeling to get locked in the playoffs early."

Asked what he was thinking with his teammate closing fast in his mirror, Logano said: "Yeah I figured he'd run up against the wall there and he made up more ground than I thought he would. He made such a good run and I just barely cleared him there at the end.

"Team Penske going 1-2 shows the kind of speed we've got this season."

Kyle Busch finished third, pole-winner Kevin Harvick was fourth and Kurt Busch completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Aric Almirola, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, Kurt Busch did not pit and inherited the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 168. He was followed by Logano, who was first off pit road, then Harvick and Hamlin.

With 80 laps remaining in the race, Harvick was finally able to get around Kurt Busch and reclaim the lead. Logano ran in third, Keselowski fourth and Almirola had made his way up to fifth.

On Lap 193, Logano also got around Kurt Busch and moved into the runner-up position.

With 60 laps left, Keselowski had made his way up to third, Kurt Busch fourth and Kyle Busch made his way to fifth.

As a handful of cars began green-flag stops, Logano got around Harvick to retake the lead on Lap 211. By Lap 215, most of the lead-lap cars were making their way down pit road for what could be their final stop of the race.

After his pit stop, Logano reported “a little vibration.” But by Lap 227 after everyone had made their pit stop, Logano cycled back into the lead.

Keselowski was in second, about a second back, followed by Harvick, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch.

On Lap 240, Keselowski was to get around Logano and take and reclaim the lead.

Logano went to the inside of Keselowski off Turn 4 on Lap 244 and grabbed the lead right back.

With 20 laps remaining, Logano led the way followed by Keselowski and Harvick – all within a second of each other.

Logano was able to stretch his lead to over a second on Keselowski with 15 laps remaining. Harvick was right behind Keselowski, trying to take the second spot. Kyle Busch was running fourth.

With eight laps to go, Logano put Jimmie Johnson a lap down, leaving 18 cars on the lead lap.

Kyle Busch passed Harvick for third with three laps remaining.

Read Also:

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led 1 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 267 86 2 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 267 0.236 17 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 267 1.419 13 4 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 267 2.530 89 5 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 267 10.483 23 6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 267 19.287 5 7 10 Aric Almirola Ford 267 19.562 8 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 267 19.748 9 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 267 21.137 10 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 267 21.951 11 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 267 22.383 12 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 267 23.380 13 20 Erik Jones Toyota 267 25.271 14 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 267 27.236 15 21 United States Paul Menard Ford 267 27.882 16 24 William Byron Chevrolet 267 28.192 21 17 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez Ford 267 28.602 12 18 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 267 28.759 19 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 266 1 lap 20 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 266 1 lap 2 21 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 266 1 lap 22 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 266 1 lap 23 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 265 2 laps 24 6 Ryan Newman Ford 265 2 laps 25 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 265 2 laps 26 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 265 2 laps 27 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 264 3 laps 28 38 David Ragan Ford 264 3 laps 29 13 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 264 3 laps 30 34 Michael McDowell Ford 263 4 laps 31 96 Parker Kligerman Toyota 263 4 laps 32 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 260 7 laps 33 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 259 8 laps 34 36 Matt Tifft Ford 259 8 laps 35 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 253 14 laps 36 77 United States Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 252 15 laps 37 52 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 220 47 laps 38 66 Joey Gase Toyota 10 256 laps

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