By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Joey Logano became the first driver to win three consecutive Nationwide Series races at Dover International Speedway by taking Saturday's 5-Hour Energy 200.
Logano grabbed the lead with 37 laps remaining when he was the first driver off of pit road during a round of stops under caution. Kyle Busch held the top spot prior to the stops, but Busch elected to take four new tires, while the other frontrunners, including Logano, came in for two. Logano held off Brian Vickers at the finish by 0.6 seconds for his first victory of the season and the 19th of his Nationwide career.
"This is one of those racetracks where I feel like I really know what it takes to win and what I need in a race car," said Logano, who led 66 of 200 laps. "The winning call was that last pit stop. We decided to take two tires, so we could beat out a lot of those guys. It gave us that track position. And the biggest thing was for me to hold everybody off."
Logano won both races at Dover during his final season with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2012. He is now driving for Penske Racing in both Sprint Cup and Nationwide. Last year, Logano had the most victories in Nationwide with nine.
"I'm pretty pumped up about this," he said. "It's great to finally get a win for (team owner) Roger Penske. I've been trying to get a win. It feels great to finally be back into victory lane."
Logano made his Nationwide debut at this one-mile, concrete-surfaced racetrack on May 31, 2008.
Busch, who was attempting to win his seventh Nationwide race this season, led the most laps with 72 but dropped to 10th after the last round of stops. He was not a factor from there, as he finished fifth.
"It was my fault, and I'm aggravated with myself," a disappointed Busch said. "I made a wrong call there, just figuring more (teams) would take four (tires). This is a racetrack where you really can't pass at."
Busch, Todd Bodine and Carl Edwards share the record for most Nationwide wins at Dover with three each. Busch won a Camping World Truck Series race here for the third time on Friday. One week ago, Busch captured his record seventh Nationwide victory at Charlotte after leading 186 of 200 laps there.
Vickers' second-place run marked his best finish for the season. He is in his first year with JGR.
"The guys (No. 20 JGR team) did a great job with the car all weekend, and it's the best for us going into a race, starting a race and finishing a race. The guys did a great job on pit road as well. We really want to win one of these things, but this was still a good day."
Matt Kenseth finished third, while Trevor Bayne took the fourth spot. Kasey Kahne placed sixth, followed by Sam Hornish Jr., Austin Dillon, the pole sitter, and Regan Smith, the current points leader. Rookie Kyle Larson completed the top-10.
Smith now holds a 27-point advantage over Hornish. Vickers moved up to third in the standings (-42).
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/logano-wins-third-straight-nationwide-race-at-dover