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Logano gets back up front to win at Dover

Amanda Vincent, NASCAR Correspondent

Edited: Jun 2, 2012, 9:12 PM

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Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Joe Gibbs Racing dominated the 5-Hour Energy 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway on Saturday with a one-two-three finish, as Joey Logano drove the No. 18 Toyota to victory lane to claim his fourth win of 2012. Teammates, Ryan Truex in the No. 20 Toyota and Brian Scott in the No. 11 Toyota finished second and third.

"Good car, by the way," Logano told his crew on the radio after leading 154 of 200 laps en route to the checkered flag.

It was a pretty intense moment, trying to catch Ryan.

Joey Logano

Although Logano turned in a dominating performance, his day wasn't without incident. While running up front, he made contact with a lap car with 50 laps to go, sending it into a spin and bringing out a caution.

"Lap car just not giving enough room to the leaders," Logano said of the incident.

Two of the JGR teammates, Truex and Logano, started the race on the front row, with Logano driving out to the lead on the first lap. Truex lost a few positions early, and Logano had to hold off the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on a restart following a caution on lap four.

Logano and Stenhouse pulled away from the field and ran first and second until Stenhouse spun and hit the wall to bring out a caution on lap 27. He spent 66 laps behind the wall for repairs to his car before making his way back out onto the track to finish the race.

Kurt Busch moved his No. 54 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota up to second to challenge Logano until a competition caution came out on lap 40.

Justin Allgaier, who had pitted his No. 31 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet for tires during a previous caution, took fuel only during the competition caution to get off pit road first and assume the lead for the restart. But as soon as the race went back to green, Logano retook the top spot.

Logano and Allgaier continued to run first and second until Allgaier headed down pit road to start a cycle of green-flag stops on lap 116. At completion of the cycle, Logano and Allgaier were back up front.

On a restart following a lap 123 caution, both Busch and Truex got by Allgaier to take second.

A few laps later, another caution came out. When Allgaier and Busch opted to pit, Truex moved back into second.

Ryan Truex

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

Logano made his way down pit road during a caution with 50 laps to go, giving up the lead when most of the other lead lap cars stayed out. Truex inherited the lead, with teammate Scott in second.

"I was running hard but was being somewhat patient," Logano said of his journey back toward the front.

Logano got by Busch to take over the third spot and give Joe Gibbs Racing the top-three positions in the running order with 22 to go. With 15 laps remaining, he made his way by Scott for second, but Truex looked to be too far out in front.

"It was a pretty intense moment, trying to catch Ryan," Logano said.

While Truex looked to have a smooth ride ahead of him to his first win, it wasn't meant to be.

"It's just frustrating, but a good day for Joe Gibbs Racing," Truex said of having the lead late and not winning. "I'll get one eventually."

Truex's No. 20 car got extremely loose in the closing laps, allowing Logano to gain ground. Then, Truex got stuck behind slower lap traffic with five laps to go, allowing Logano to get by and take the lead.

"I figured they'd go outside," Truex said of the lap cars. "They were about 20 laps down each." Busch finished fourth, and Allgaier rounded out the top-five.

A trio of Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets finished sixth through eighth, with Austin Dillon finishing sixth in the No. 3, the No. 2 of Elliott Sadler in seventh and the No. 33 of Ty Dillon in eighth in his Nationwide Series debut.

The No. 30 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet of James Buescher finished ninth, the final car on the lead lap.

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