Joey Logano wins his first “Miles the Monster” trophy

Joey Logano wins his 4th NNS race of the season.
Photo by Beth Bence Reinke/Skirts and Scuffs

The trio of Joe Gibbs Racing drivers gave Miles the Monster a double whooping in today’s Nationwide race, starting and ending the event in the top five. The storm clouds from the night before lifted, allowing the 5-hour ENERGY 200 to run under sunny, breezy conditions.

In a dominant run, Joey Logano led 154 of 200 laps and took home the monster statue. The victory is Joey Logano’s fourth Nationwide win this season and his first win at Dover. After losing track position on the final caution, Logano picked off those spots one by one. With five laps to go, he passed teammate Ryan Truex for the lead and took the checkered flag.

Logano’s post-race thoughts: “My guys gave me one heck of a Dollar General Toyota to be able to lead all those laps, go to the back, pass the cars and go back and take the lead in this thing and win the race. That was a very impressive car.”
 

Logano standing on his car in Victory Lane
Photo by Beth Bence Reinke

After starting from the pole, Ryan Truex lost the lead to Logano on the first lap, but he stayed in the top six all race long. Truex led at the end and appeared to be about to win in his first Nationwide start until getting into some lapped traffic and got a little loose, which allowed Logano to catch and pass him. Ryan was understandably frustrated after the race. “I’m not happy. It’s second and I should be happy with it, but we had a winning car…” he said.

Caution report:

Caution 1: Tim Andrews (No. 08) has a tire go down and gets into the wall in turn 3.

Caution 2: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (No. 6) crashed in the backstretch on lap 27

“I just lost it,” he said. “I wasn’t up on the wheel and just kind of riding around until that competition caution and just got behind on the steering. It was driver error, totally my fault.”

The No. 6 got back on the track around the halfway point of the race, 66 laps down.

Caution 3: (Competition) on lap 40

Timmy Hill's car after his wreck
Photo by Beth Bence Reinke 

Caution 4: Sam Hornish, Jr. (No. 12), Timmy Hill (No. 41) and Joey Gase (No. 52) had an accident on the frontstretch.

Caution 5: On lap 133, Sam Hornish (No. 12) got up into Danica Patrick (No. 7) who then tapped Brad Sweet (No. 38) Hornish got through okay but Sweet and Patrick had significant damage. They had been running 15th and 16th.

Caution 6: Tim Bainey Jr. (No. 24) crashed in his first NNS start. It appeared that Logano got into Bainey’s left rear panel and turned him into the outside wall.

Three Gibbs guys finished at the front, but the caution report shows another triple event. In a rather eerie turn of events, all three drivers named “Tim” ended up in the wall, bitten by the monster.

Race results:

1. Joey Logano
2. Ryan Truex
3. Brian Scott
4. Kurt Busch
5. Justin Allgaier
6. Austin Dillon
7. Elliott Sadler
8. Ty Dillon
9. James Buescher
10. Jeremy Clements
11. Michael Annett
12. Parker Kligerman
13. Sam Hornish Jr.
14. Cole Whitt
15. Jason Bowles
16. Tayler Malsam
17. Jeff Green,
18. Mike Wallace
19. Joe Nemechek
20. John Wes Townley
21. Jamie Dick
22. Josh Richards
23. Brad Sweet
24. TJ Bell
25. Brad Teague
26. Joey Gase
27. Erik Darnell
28. Tim Bainey Jr.
29. Morgan Shepherd
30. Danica Patrick
31. Timmy Hill
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. Mike Bliss
34. Mike Harmon
35. Matt Carter
36. Scott Riggs
38. Scott Speed
39. Kevin Lepage
40. Tim Andrews
41. Blake Koch
42. Matt DiBenedetto

In the points:


1. Elliott Sadler
2. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
3. Austin Dillon
4. Sam Hornish, Jr.
5. Justin Allgaier
6. Cole Whitt
7. Michael Annett
8. Mike Bliss
9. Joe Nemecheck
10. Tayler Malsam
11. Danica Patrick
12. Brian Scott
13. Mike Wallace
14. Jeremy Clements
15. Jason Bowles

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Beth Bence Reinke writes "Gibbs Garage," Joe Gibbs Racing Sprint Cup team recaps, for the 2012 season. Her Skirts and Scuffs column, “Faith on the Frontstretch,” explores the role of faith in motorsports. Beth is the author of Race Fans’ Devotions to Go, a devotional book geared toward female NASCAR fans. Follow Beth on Twitter at @bbreinke or reach her atbbreinke@SkirtsandScuffs.com