NORTH WILKESBORO, NC. - Joey Logano scored a victory in the first NASCAR Cup Series points race in 30 years at North Wilkesboro Speedway as he led 323-of-450 laps in Sunday’s Window World 450.
Logano started 11th after qualifying was rained out and the grid was set by the NASCAR rulebook. He worked his way up to third at the end of Stage 1, and took the lead for the first time on the start for Stage 2 and gave it up only briefly the rest of the night. He led 323 of the final 365 circuits, but had to hold off Denny Hamlin over the final 70-lap run after regaining the top spot following a cycle of green flag pit stops. Hamlin was able to stay close thanks in part to lap traffic, but he was never able to pull alongside the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
The win was the second straight for Ford after Ryan Blaney won a week ago at EchoPark Speedway, and it completed a weekend NASCAR sweep after Chandler Smith captured the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Saturday.
For Logano, it was his 38th career Cup victory and 36th with Ford after joining Team Penske in 2013. That figure ranks third on the manufacturer’s all-time list, trailing only Ned Jarrett (43) and Bill Elliott (40). In addition, it was Logano’s 50th career victory with Team Penske and Ford in NASCAR’s top three series combined.
Three other Ford drivers finished in the top 10 as Brad Keselowski was seventh, Todd Gilliland eighth and Ryan Preece 10th. Gilliland won his In-Season Challenge matchup against Chase Elliott and advanced to the finals, where he will face fellow Ford driver Ryan Blaney, who finished 11th in the race and beat Christopher Bell. Whichever driver finishes the highest next week in Indianapolis will win $1 million.
Logano’s victory also represented the 400th all-time NASCAR points victory for Roush Yates Engines in the top three series combined (208 Cup, 165 NOAPS, and 17 NCTS).
The NASCAR Cup Series continues next Sunday, July 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, TNT, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM, HBO MAX).
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW –
HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER GETTING THIS WIN? “It was just a solid race car. I knew in practice that the car had speed and the balance was really loose. When you have that, its like, ‘OK, if we get the balance right, this thing is really fast, I think.’ So, they did a good job dialing it in overnight and putting it in position at the end of the first stage. That’s when we finally got where we needed to be and was able to just set sail up front. It was just a really solid race car. I was lucky to get to drive this one today and really just being able to manage a lot of things inside the car, so I’m proud of Paul Wolfe. He does a good job. We tested twice over the offseason here when they were testing all of the other stuff with the rules packages and stuff, so just a really good tester.” WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK WITH SO MANY LAPS LED AND THE ALL-STAR WIN? ARE YOU THE WILKESBORO WHISPERER? “I hadn’t heard that one. I don’t want to be a one track wonder, but right now it’s a good one to be good at and last year you feel like you had one taken away there at the end. Even the old pavement I felt like we had a chance of winning that All-Star Race as well. We just have always had fast cars here and was able to manage the short track stuff. That’s definitely in our wheelhouse right now.”
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Joey Logano
7th – Brad Keselowski
8th – Todd Gilliland
10th – Ryan Preece
11th – Ryan Blaney
14th – Austin Cindric
20th – Chris Buescher
22nd – Zane Smith
25th – Noah Gragson
35th – Chad Finchum
36th – Josh Berry
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“It used to be 500 or so here I’m told by the guys who have been around here for a long time and I respect them after today because 450 is a long time, 500, that must have been grueling. It was a good day for us with the Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang. We got a top 10, seventh here, some stage points. We just executed really well. The car was not the fastest, but we didn’t beat ourselves. We had good strategy by Jeremy Bullins and solid stops. We’re missing our jack man, Dustin Lineback. We’re thinking about him, but the guys stepped up and did a good job.”
DO PERFORMANCES LIKE TONIGHT GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE YOU CAN MAKE THE CHASE?
“We’re gonna have to earn it. We had a really difficult two month stretch, where we dropped from in the top 10 in points to 19th, and we need to rebound from that. Days like today give us hope that we can do that.”
THERE ARE MORE SHORT TRACKS COMING UP. HOW STRONG DO YOU THINK THE FORDS ARE OVERALL AT THIS STYLE OF TRACK?
“The short tracks and superspeedways are the best chances for the Fords and we need to capitalize on that for sure. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna throw away the other races, we still have to make the most of those too.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“I thought we did a really good job of coming from the back and where we got to. Midway through stage two I thought was really, really good and I just settled into the fourth to sixth place. I kind of felt like that’s where I was at and then I just sped getting onto pit road on the green flag stop. That hurt our night. That’s a bummer. I thought we could have run in that fourth to sixth range where we were at, but it’s still a decent day overall. We’re moving on. I didn’t really know out there where the 20 was at, but we’ll go for it at Indy.”
YOUR OPPONENT IS TODD GILLILAND, A FELLOW FORD DRIVER. WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
“Ford is gonna get it, so that’s good. The Blue Oval is gonna win the In-Season Challenge. It’ll be a good race. That group at FRM does a really good job and Todd is a really talented race car driver, so it’ll be a tough one. Indy, a lot of strategy goes on there and a lot of things can happen, so we’re gonna have to be on top of our game like every week. But it’s nice that a couple of Blue Ovals have a shot at it.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Ruedebusch Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“Overall, that was just a very solid night for us. I’m pretty happy with how we unloaded. My crew chief felt pretty confident and we worked hard the whole weekend, and I feel like we got it closer to where we needed to be. It was a completely different short track package for us, and I’m excited for here and then something similar maybe like Richmond and places like that. We’ll keep chipping away, but I’m really proud of my team for digging in. What we’ve had here hasn’t been good and just going out on an island and, luckily, it was a little bit better.”
YOU ADVANCED TO THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE FINAL WITH A GOOD EFFORT TONIGHT.
“Yeah, absolutely. We definitely caught a big lucky break there at the beginning, but that was strategy. We knew there was a risk with short pitting and everybody did, so I was definitely very proud of the strategy and kind of the way we executed the whole race. That was probably about as good as it could have gone. It’s crazy. We’ve got to beat one more guy for a million dollars.”
AND THAT’S ANOTHER FORD GUY IN RYAN BLANEY.
“Yeah, the 12 is pretty good. That’s for sure. That’s the reason why they’re at this point in the bracket, so I’m excited about it. That’s the crazy thing is that anything can happen. We have to do what’s best for the 34 team and race all the way to the checkered flag because you never really know. We’ll keep grinding away. It’s pretty wild. I’m pretty excited.”
RYAN PREECE, No. 60 SimpleTire Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“It was a long night. We had a caution go our way, so that was nice. I’m just proud of Derrick’s calls and we had a good day.”
JOSH BERRY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse –
“It looked like the 20 just got loose and chased it up into us and we wrecked.”
ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE TO NOT BE IN THAT POSITION?
“I don’t know. I can’t put into words the amount of stuff that’s happened this year. I mean, we drove up to probably just outside the top 10, we had top five lap times, the car was good, and then we pit and the caution of course comes out and we get trapped two laps down, wave around, just back there in the crap and just get wrecked. It’s disappointing. I felt like tonight was the night we certainly could have gotten a good finish like it looks like our teammates are gonna do, but that was tough. I’m aggravated at the 20, but he’s in the same position I am. He was back there and just got loose.”
IS THIS THE BEST CAR YOU’VE HAD THIS YEAR?
“Yeah, I would say so. Martinsville, we were pretty good too, but I feel like to start where we did and move through the field, we passed a lot of cars. Both pit stops we had early we got blocked in on pit road and lost a bunch of spots and then had to keep re-passing a bunch of cars, too. I felt like our car was pretty good. It definitely had speed and was just a couple tweaks away from being really, really good. We just needed some track position.”
HOW HARD IS THIS WHEN YOU’RE TRYING TO SELL YOURSELF FOR NEXT YEAR AND YOU’RE NOT GETTING CHANCES TO FINISH RACES?
“It’s tough. I’ve worked my whole life to get in this position and now I feel like people view me completely differently after this year compared to what I’ve done up until this point. I’ve never lived through a season like this when it’s just one thing after another. Things that people don’t see that don’t make it on TV. I don’t go on social media every week and post about every little thing that went wrong in our race. We just can’t catch a break, flat out. Even this week, we were eighth in practice and had a good car and, of course, qualifying gets rained out. If we get to qualify, I felt like we would have had a much better starting spot, a much better pit stall. It’s just one thing after another and it’s certainly discouraging.”
