Logano sweeps Watkins Glen weekend

Aug 09, 2015 at 10:51 pm by Observer-Review


SPORTS

Logano sweeps Watkins Glen weekend

WATKINS GLEN-Joey Logano was able to do what no driver has ever done at Watkins Glen International. Win both weekend NASCAR events, and then begin tearing up the historic road course in an excavator as part of the ceremony for the track repaving project.
Logano passed Kevin Harvick just before the final turn on the last lap to secure the win. Harvick had run out of fuel, and was also overtaken by Kyle Busch, having to settle for third place. Rounding out the top five was Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch.
"Yeah, it's remarkable," said Joey Logano in a post race press conference. "I've never swept the weekend before. I've come close a couple times but never actually done it. I didn't think a road course would be the time that we were able to sweep the weekend. But what a special race car I had yesterday, such a fast race car, and we were able to drive up through the field and just have a really good car. And today [Crew Chief Todd Gordon] made some great adjustments overnight after we talked about the XFINITY race and got my Shell-Pennzoil Ford even better, which was great."
The win is his second Sprint Cup Series victory this year and the 10th of his career.
In addition to the excitement during the race, Logano also had the opportunity to begin the construction work that will continue at the track. WGI announced last year that in 2015 the road course would see a major repaving project. Work would begin with "The Boot" and continue with the short course immediately following the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. Logano took the controls of a Cat 335F excavator to begin digging up the old asphalt just after the start/finish line. Fans waited for him to finish breaking the ground and then were able to take a piece as a souvenir.
"Hopefully I can take that chunk of the racetrack where I did some donuts on it, but you know, I've always enjoyed coming to road courses but I was never very successful at them before. It kind of worked out well today," added Logano.
The Sunday race proved tough for many previous WGI winners. Jeff Gordon (four times) finished 41st while Tony Stewart (five times) was 43rd. 2014 champion and pole winner AJ Allmendinger recorded a 24th place finish.
Although Kyle Busch had to settle for second place, he is now in the top 30 in the series standings and will in all likelihood have a berth in the Chase. The Chase places the top drivers from the season against each other as the season winds down to name an overall championship winner.
"We couldn't afford running out of gas like we did last week and taking home an even worse finish this week because of how many cars finish on the lead lap typically at a road course," remarked Busch. "We'd be back in the 30s somewhere. I'm sure that was weighing on [Crew Chief Adam Stevens] mind on being able to save it and make it to the end and just playing it a little bit more cautious, which is fine."
Kevin Harvick still leads the overall driver standings with 823 points following The Glen.



NASCAR Sprint Cup Cheez-It 355 at The Glen, Sunday, Aug. 9 at Watkins Glen International.

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