Joey Logano survives Texas attrition, lands first win of 2025 in overtime
After Michael McDowell’s dream ended less than four laps short of the scheduled finish in Sunday’s Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly, Joey Logano took control and rode the NASCAR Cup Series rollercoaster to his first victory of the season.
A week after a missing nut on a spoiler bracket cost him a disqualification from fifth place at Talladega Superspeedway, Logano beat runner-up Ross Chastain to the finish line by 0.346-second in overtime to score his second victory at 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway and the 37th of his career.
In fashioning his first top-five finish of 2025, Logano successfully pursued McDowell, who had charged into the lead after a restart on Lap 245 of 271 and held it through two cautions and restarts.
On Lap 264, less than four laps from a finish, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford went low on the backstretch, avoided a block from McDowell and passed the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet for the lead.
Passed for second by Logano’s Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney a lap later, McDowell lost control in dirty air behind Blaney’s Ford and slammed into the Turn 2 wall, ending his race in 26th place.
“Sorry, boys, I tried,” a rueful McDowell radioed to his team.
On the subsequent overtime restart, Logano made it look easy. The reigning series champion cleared Blaney through the first two corners, as Chastain charged into second from the bottom lane.
Two laps later, Logano was on his way to Victory Lane, having scored the second straight win for Team Penske after Austin Cindric won last Sunday at Talladega.
“The sport changes so quickly,” Logano said after climbing from his car. “It’s crazy how you can just ride these rollercoasters and just proud of the team. Finally got (sponsor) AAA Insurance into Victory Lane. They’ve been a partner of mine since I’ve been to Penske, so 13, 14 years. I’ve yet to win with them. It was awesome to get that done here.”
Logano had to work his way forward from his 27th-place starting position. He did so relentlessly and without the sorts of mistakes that doomed the winning chances of others.
“Slowly, methodically, a couple at a time,” Logano said of his drive. “We had a really tough pit stall situation. The pit crew did a good job of managing that and just grabbed a couple (of positions) here and there.
“The car was fast. I knew that yesterday. We just did a poor job qualifying. Just grinded it. Just keep grinding a couple here and a couple there and eventually get a win here. It’s nice to get one. Real nice.”
Blaney came home third, followed by Kyle Larson, who led a race-high 90 laps but surrendered the top spot to McDowell on the Lap 245 restart.
Erik Jones was fifth, scoring his first top five since last year’s fall race at Talladega. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10.
Other expected contenders fell by the wayside as the race progressed.
Denny Hamlin’s streak of 21 consecutive lead-lap finishes — eighth-most all-time in the Cup Series — came to an abrupt end on Lap 75. One circuit earlier, Hamlin lost power with an engine the team was running for the third time.
As Hamlin slowed, flames shot from beneath the chassis of the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin stopped the car, which was enveloped in dark smoke and climbed to safety.
“It was blowing up for about a lap or so before it really detonated,” Hamlin said. “I tried to keep it off to keep it from full detonating.
“That was so they can diagnose exactly what happened to it. It’s tough to say exactly what it is, but they’ll go back and look at it and we’ll find out in a few weeks.”
A promising run for Las Vegas winner Josh Berry likewise ended early on Sunday. Berry had led 41 laps and was running at the front of the field on Lap 125 when the treacherous bump in Turn 4 upset his No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.
In a race that produced 12 cautions for 73 laps, Austin Cindric led 60 laps but fell victim to a four-car crash on Lap 247. Ten laps earlier, pole winner Carson Hocevar, who led the first 22 laps but was relegated to the back of the field when caution interrupted a green-flag cycle of pit stops on Lap 219, suffered a similar fate in a three-car wreck.
William Byron, who finished 13th, retained the series lead by 13 points over Larson.
The Cup Series’ next race comes on another 1.5-mile oval, as the circuit heads to Kansas Speedway for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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After Michael McDowell’s dream ended less than four laps short of the scheduled finish in Sunday’s Würth 400 presented by Liqui Moly, Joey Logano took control and rode the NASCAR Cup Series rollercoaster to his first victory of the season.
A week after a missing nut on a spoiler bracket cost him a disqualification from fifth place at Talladega Superspeedway, Logano beat runner-up Ross Chastain to the finish line by 0.346-second in overtime to score his second victory at 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway and the 37th of his career.
In fashioning his first top-five finish of 2025, Logano successfully pursued McDowell, who had charged into the lead after a restart on Lap 245 of 271 and held it through two cautions and restarts.
On Lap 264, less than four laps from a finish, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford went low on the backstretch, avoided a block from McDowell and passed the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet for the lead.
Passed for second by Logano’s Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney a lap later, McDowell lost control in dirty air behind Blaney’s Ford and slammed into the Turn 2 wall, ending his race in 26th place.
“Sorry, boys, I tried,” a rueful McDowell radioed to his team.
On the subsequent overtime restart, Logano made it look easy. The reigning series champion cleared Blaney through the first two corners, as Chastain charged into second from the bottom lane.
Two laps later, Logano was on his way to Victory Lane, having scored the second straight win for Team Penske after Austin Cindric won last Sunday at Talladega.
“The sport changes so quickly,” Logano said after climbing from his car. “It’s crazy how you can just ride these rollercoasters and just proud of the team. Finally got (sponsor) AAA Insurance into Victory Lane. They’ve been a partner of mine since I’ve been to Penske, so 13, 14 years. I’ve yet to win with them. It was awesome to get that done here.”
Logano had to work his way forward from his 27th-place starting position. He did so relentlessly and without the sorts of mistakes that doomed the winning chances of others.
“Slowly, methodically, a couple at a time,” Logano said of his drive. “We had a really tough pit stall situation. The pit crew did a good job of managing that and just grabbed a couple (of positions) here and there.
“The car was fast. I knew that yesterday. We just did a poor job qualifying. Just grinded it. Just keep grinding a couple here and a couple there and eventually get a win here. It’s nice to get one. Real nice.”
Blaney came home third, followed by Kyle Larson, who led a race-high 90 laps but surrendered the top spot to McDowell on the Lap 245 restart.
Erik Jones was fifth, scoring his first top five since last year’s fall race at Talladega. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez completed the top 10.
Other expected contenders fell by the wayside as the race progressed.
Denny Hamlin’s streak of 21 consecutive lead-lap finishes — eighth-most all-time in the Cup Series — came to an abrupt end on Lap 75. One circuit earlier, Hamlin lost power with an engine the team was running for the third time.
As Hamlin slowed, flames shot from beneath the chassis of the No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin stopped the car, which was enveloped in dark smoke and climbed to safety.
“It was blowing up for about a lap or so before it really detonated,” Hamlin said. “I tried to keep it off to keep it from full detonating.
“That was so they can diagnose exactly what happened to it. It’s tough to say exactly what it is, but they’ll go back and look at it and we’ll find out in a few weeks.”
A promising run for Las Vegas winner Josh Berry likewise ended early on Sunday. Berry had led 41 laps and was running at the front of the field on Lap 125 when the treacherous bump in Turn 4 upset his No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.
In a race that produced 12 cautions for 73 laps, Austin Cindric led 60 laps but fell victim to a four-car crash on Lap 247. Ten laps earlier, pole winner Carson Hocevar, who led the first 22 laps but was relegated to the back of the field when caution interrupted a green-flag cycle of pit stops on Lap 219, suffered a similar fate in a three-car wreck.
William Byron, who finished 13th, retained the series lead by 13 points over Larson.
The Cup Series’ next race comes on another 1.5-mile oval, as the circuit heads to Kansas Speedway for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Let's Go Racing!
Website is updated!
Boogity Boogity Boogity!!!!
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THE FRONTPAGE Driver Points Wins
1Christopher Bell 335 3 2Kyle Larson 408 2 3Denny Hamlin 338 2 4William Byron 421 1 5Joey Logano 288 1 6Austin Cindric 241 1 7Josh Berry 206 1 8Chase Elliott 338 0 9Tyler Reddick 337 0 10Ryan Blaney 313 0 11Bubba Wallace 306 0 12Alex Bowman 284 0 13Ross Chastain 281 0 14Chris Buescher 255 0 15Chase Briscoe 245 0 16Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 240 0 2025 ENTRIES Total Points Rank Texas #11 Points Back Change 1One Lugnut 83 0 0 2Drew-2 95 12 0 3Tony Cavallo 112 29 0 4Koz B 117 34 0 5Gabe Howarth 121 38 0 6Old Blood 121 38 7 7Hamlin Cheese 125 42 0 8Victory Lap 131 48 0 9Gear Grinders 133 50 11 10Still Fast 133 50 0 
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Winners and Losers after Texas
Winners Joey Logano — He was the first reigning Cup champion not to have a top-five finish through the first 10 races of the following season but changed the storyline by winning Sunday’s race. The victory is the 37th of his career and it comes a week after his fifth-place finish at Talladega was disqualified for a post-race inspection. Trackhouse Racing — Team placed two of its cars in the top 10 for the second time this season (Las Vegas was the other). Ross Chastain finished second. Daniel Suarez placed 10th for his second consecutive top 10. Shane van Gisbergen’s 22nd-place finish was his second top-25 in the last eight races. Legacy Motor Club — Team had both its cars in the top 10 for the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500. Erik Jones finished a season-best fifth, his first top 10 in the last 16 races, dating back to last year’s playoff race at Talladega. John Hunter Nemechek finished eighth for his first top 10 since Atlanta, the second race of the season. Ryan Blaney -- Finished third after having failed to finish four of the previous seven races. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — His sixth-place finish was his second top 10 of the season and his best finish at Texas. Austin Dillon — His seventh-place finish gives him three consecutive top 10s — tied with Kyle Larson for the longest active streak in the series after Larson finished fourth. Ty Dillon — He was on the outside of the ninth row (18th place) for the overtime restart, went to top and was four wide as he gained positions. He rallied to finish 12th for his best finish of the season and it comes after fuel issues the past two races led to finishes outside the top 20. Losers Denny Hamlin — Blown engine led to a last-place finish in the 38-car field and snapped his streak of finishing on the lead lap for 21 consecutive races. Josh Berry — The Las Vegas winner was leading when he crashed and went on to finish 32nd. Brad Keselowski — He was collected in a multi-car crash and finished 28th. The former Cup champion has finished 26th or worse in five of the last six races. |