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Joey Logano is driving like no lame duck at Joe Gibbs Racing. Virtually untouchable he won the pole and led 168-laps of the scheduled -200 lapper of the Nationwide Series race at Phoenix. Then he held off the charge of his new and temporary teammate, Brian Vickers in a green-white-checkered shoot-out which ended on lap 204.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.'s reprise of his 2011 Series championship became more of a reality when his closest challenger, Elliott Sadler wrecked on lap 198 causing a green white checkered finish.
"I did it to myself. I put my team in a hole, qualifying like we did," Sadler said. "We tried to work on this car as much as we could, and I just got a little loose there and got into (Whitt). It was 100 percent my fault.
"I should have done a better job for these guys and I just apologize to them for putting them in this position heading into Homestead. We don't have a dog in the fight, but I definitely dug ourselves a hole."
Sadler and Stenhouse started the race tied in the Nationwide standings. Now Stenhouse has to finish merely 16th or better to clinch his second series title before he moves up to Sprint Cup full time next year.
Sadler had crashed in qualifying on Saturday and had to start in the back of the field in his back up Chevrolet.
Although Logano will be leaving JGR for Penske Racing next year, he equaled his previous career total of nine races, winning his ninth Nationwide series event this year for a total of 18 career wins.
Talking about Vickers and Stenhouse Logano said "they didn't make it easy on me. Yeah, I had plenty of worries about him (Brian Vickers) and the 6 (Stenhouse).
"I knew I could beat him on the restarts -- I knew how to beat him -- and then when Brian got up there it was a whole new ballgame for me and I had to kind of change up what I was doing.
"And he figured out what I was doing, so I had to change it up a little bit in the last few circuits -- tried to make sure I got the nose ahead into (turn) one until I had position on him going in and tried to clear him from there."
Stenhouse, who finished third, said “we worked really hard. Mike (Kelley his crew chief) made some good calls - changing four there, staying out and leading a lap - all the guys on the Valvoline NextGen Mustang worked really, really hard and that's what it's all about. We've still got some racing to do. We've got one more race left."
Although he has a large lead in the defense of his title Stenhouse is still a little cautious. "That makes us feel good, but we've given up 20 points in one race, so it's not over till it's over," he said.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.'s reprise of his 2011 Series championship became more of a reality when his closest challenger, Elliott Sadler wrecked on lap 198 causing a green white checkered finish.
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| Elliott Sadler's wrecked No. 2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet (Photo: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images) |
"I did it to myself. I put my team in a hole, qualifying like we did," Sadler said. "We tried to work on this car as much as we could, and I just got a little loose there and got into (Whitt). It was 100 percent my fault.
"I should have done a better job for these guys and I just apologize to them for putting them in this position heading into Homestead. We don't have a dog in the fight, but I definitely dug ourselves a hole."
Sadler and Stenhouse started the race tied in the Nationwide standings. Now Stenhouse has to finish merely 16th or better to clinch his second series title before he moves up to Sprint Cup full time next year.
Sadler had crashed in qualifying on Saturday and had to start in the back of the field in his back up Chevrolet.
Although Logano will be leaving JGR for Penske Racing next year, he equaled his previous career total of nine races, winning his ninth Nationwide series event this year for a total of 18 career wins.
 |
| Joey Logano in Victory Lane (Photo: Brian Czobat/Autostock) |
Talking about Vickers and Stenhouse Logano said "they didn't make it easy on me. Yeah, I had plenty of worries about him (Brian Vickers) and the 6 (Stenhouse).
"I knew I could beat him on the restarts -- I knew how to beat him -- and then when Brian got up there it was a whole new ballgame for me and I had to kind of change up what I was doing.
"And he figured out what I was doing, so I had to change it up a little bit in the last few circuits -- tried to make sure I got the nose ahead into (turn) one until I had position on him going in and tried to clear him from there."
Stenhouse, who finished third, said “we worked really hard. Mike (Kelley his crew chief) made some good calls - changing four there, staying out and leading a lap - all the guys on the Valvoline NextGen Mustang worked really, really hard and that's what it's all about. We've still got some racing to do. We've got one more race left."
Although he has a large lead in the defense of his title Stenhouse is still a little cautious. "That makes us feel good, but we've given up 20 points in one race, so it's not over till it's over," he said.