Logano wins Xfinity race as four drivers are eliminated from the Chase

After finishing 36th in the Sprint Cup race, Logano wheeled the No. 12 Team Penske Ford to the win for his 27th career victory in the NXS.

"It was a long night but a good recovery from earlier in the day, when I tried to knock the wall down," said Logano, who led the final 12 laps for his second Charlotte win. "Obviously we had a good car. Maybe we didn’t have the best car but we had something that we could make something happen with. We stayed on the lead lap on that long run. The pit crew did their job. It was an awesome restart on there at the end.

"It was a lot of fun to be able to do that. We have a great mix of guys and girls from the shop on this team and it’s a good win for them and the first for my crew chief, Brian Wilson. It was a long night for sure but a good recovery. It was a great win and a lot of fun.”

Larson dominated the Drive for the Cure 300. After starting from the pole, he led 165 laps. His penultimate pit stop came from the lead on Lap 160. He resumed the lead on Lap 175 after Erik Jones pitted for fuel. But the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team had an uncontrolled tire in the pits and Jones was forced to restart ninth on Lap 182.

Larson jumped out to a quick lead but before the field completed the first circuit, Dakoda Armstrong spun in Turn 4 to ignite the fourth caution. Larson led the followed by Justin Allgaier, Logano, Suarez and Sadler. Jones remained ninth and Austin Dillon was the lucky dog when the race returned to green with 12 laps to go.

Logano took Larson and Allgaier three-wide through Turns 1 and 2. The No. 12 moved to the point by the time the field moved into Turn 4. Larson was catching Logano by rim-riding around the track but with three laps remaining, the No. 42 slipped up into the Turn 2 wall and Larson dropped to third.

“It wasn’t good on the long run but it was good on the short-run when it mattered,” Logano said. "I was able to get a good restart and force (Larson) three-wide.

"I told them on the radio, ‘This is when the pay window opens’.”

Larson acknowledged he was “schooled” on the final restart.

"We had the best race car,” Larson said. “I left enough room for Joey to get to my inside.

“I’m mad at myself. I’ve lost a lot of races like that. I’ll keep learning from ‘em and hopefully win one ‘em sooner or later.”

Elliott Sadler finished second followed by Daniel Suarez, Larson and Erik Jones.

“It was a great night for us,” Sadler said. “Our team never quits…We were able to push Joey to the lead, but couldn’t get close enough to pass.”

Justin Allgaier, Kevin Harvick, Matt Tifft, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top 10.

Chase outlook

Suarez has a one-point advantage over Sadler in the Xfinity standings. Allgaier, Brendan Gaughan (13th), Ryan Reed (15th), Erik Jones, Blake Koch (12th) and Darrell Wallace transferred to the Round of Eight.

“Well for me, just another race, another weekend,” Suarez said. "I think we are going to be strong in Kansas. We have to do our homework and come back next weekend stronger.”

Ty Dillon, who finished 11th, failed to transfer into the second round of the Chase.

"You can't explain it,” Dillon said. “You've gotta be able to step up and be a championship team when it matters most and we didn't."

Brennan Poole, who entered the race eighth in the standings and in the final transfer spot, was running in the top five until he suffered power issues and was forced to pit on Lap 123. Poole dropped to 24th, four laps off of the lead lap. Although he took the wave-around and gained back two laps, Poole finished 18th and wound up 10th in the standings.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	12	Joey Logano	Ford	200	2:05'23	12
2	1	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	200	0.462
3	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	200	1.721
4	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	200	2.535	165
5	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	200	2.642	21
6	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	200	3.094	1
7	88	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	200	3.502
8	18	Matt Tifft	Toyota	200	4.700
9	22	Brad Keselowski	Ford	200	4.706
10	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	199	1 lap	1