Joey Logano pushed Matt Kenseth out of the way with seven laps remaining and then sailed on to his second consecutive win in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Logano, who already is qualified for Round 3 of the Chase after last week’s race at Charlotte, clipped the left rear of Kenseth’s car after the latter attempted to block Logano.
Kenseth told NBC: “I pulled up in front of him and he just lifted my tires off the ground and wrecked me. I won’t talk to Joey. I don’t have anything to talk to him about really. … I’ve always raced him with a ton of respect and have been one of his biggest fans. I’m certainly not anymore.”
Logano defended his actions: “I felt like I got pinched twice on the straightaways. He raced me hard and I raced him hard back. If I get raced like that, I’ll race the same way.”
Kenseth led the most laps (153) and finished 14th.
The scheduled 267-lap race was extended to 269 laps due to a green-white-checker finish brought about by the caution for Kenseth’s spin.
It was Logano’s 13th career Sprint Cup win and his second consecutive fall Chase victory at Kansas.
Denny Hamlin finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch.
HOW LOGANO WON: Kenseth blocked Logano and the latter wasn’t going to let it happen again. The contact caused Kenseth to spin and put Logano into the lead.
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD DAY: Despite what happened to Kenseth, Joe Gibbs Racing had yet another strong run with its other three drivers in the top eight: Denny Hamlin (second), Kyle Buch (fifth) and Carl Edwards (eighth). … Hendrick Motorsports also had a strong day – with the exception of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 21st. Jimmie Johnson, who was eliminated from the Chase after the first round, finished third. New father Kasey Kahne was fourth, and Jeff Gordon finished 10th. … Ryan Blaney finished seventh.
WHO HAD A BAD DAY: Clint Bowyer wrecked his Toyota on Lap 170. Bowyer finished 40th. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. finds himself in a must-win situation next Sunday at Talladega after finishing 21st. … Tony Stewart and Kyle Larson both spun in the first half of the race. Stewart finished 35th, six laps down, while Larson was 29th, four laps down. … Austin Dillon was running as high as fifth when he lost a right front tire on Lap 155, just past the halfway mark. Dillon suffered significant damage to the right side of his car after it hit the wall, leading to a 41st-place finish.
NOTABLE: AJ Allmendinger and Trevor Bayne had a scrum on Lap 108. Allmendinger told his team on the radio that Bayne forced him into the wall, so Allmendinger retaliated with a number of bumps into the rear end of Bayne’s car. … Kevin Harvick lost his bid to win when the gas can fell out of his pit stall after Harvick pulled away, leading to a stop-and-go penalty that caused him to lose at least one lap. When he came to serve his penalty, the shifter handle in his car broke, forcing him to shift manually for the remainder of the race. Harvick finished 16th. … Martin Truex Jr. is eighth in the standings, just six points ahead of Kyle Busch, who is one of four drivers below the Chase cut-off line heading to Talladega.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I got some air, it bit and turned me. I probably should have just spun to the inside, but I thought I could save it. Guess what? I did not save it. It was a hard hit. It was a wake-up call.” – Clint Bowyer after his crash.
WHAT’S NEXT: The most unpredictable race of the Chase is on tap next Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in the CampingWorld.com 500. This is the final race of Round 2 of the Chase; the four lowest-ranked drivers afterward will be eliminated from further advancement in the Chase.
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