Backstretch Motorsports

JOLIET, Ill. –A gutsy call, or a mistake in judgement. You could’ve hung your hat on either opinion if you had been sitting in the stands at Chicagoland Speedway for the close of Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

It’s all point of view.. neither really matters now, Dave Rogers sold his concept to his driver on a final restart that led to Victory Lane.

“This guy (Dave Rogers, crew chief) is a heck of a motivator.” race winner Joey Logano told reporters in the post-race presser. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard him on the radio, that guy will make you drive harder than anyone out there. You can have a ninth-place car and he’ll make you think you have a first-place car. Always being confident on the radio helps me a lot as a driver. I was going off what he said. At first I thought this was going to be bad and then he made me think 50-50 of what it was going to be. Either way, I just drove my brains out.”

A late caution at Chicagoland Speedway’s for debris set up a strategy call by Rogers that could been the undoing of a dominate performance on the night.

The JGR No. 20 GameStop/Wii Sports Resort Toyota was leading and Rogers expected the other competitors in striking distance to gamble and stay , too

But from second place back, they came for tires. some two, some taking four.

“I just thought that if the caution was long enough and we had a chance to cool our tires and three or four cars stayed out with us, that clean air would prevail.” said Rogers. “Everyone scans the entire field, I was scanning everyone and they were saying; ‘Follow the leader.’ I thought we had enough people to stay out to make it work, but we had such a big lead that I think a lot of the cars took the 18 (Kyle Busch) as the leader and they followed him onto pit road and really hung us out there.

“I’m not going to take credit for the call, the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing built an excellent race car and Joey Logano is a heck of a wheelman and made it happen at the end.”

Even the young JGR protge’ from Middletown, Ct. had his doubts. But not for long as Logano streaked to a comfortable victory margin in Friday night’s Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race, vindicating Rogers’ decision to keep Logano on the track during a late caution in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Logano, who led a race-high 96 laps, stayed out on old tires during the second and final caution of the race — called on Lap 185 because of debris — as did Jason Leffler. After the restart on Lap 192, Logano pulled away from teammate Kyle Busch, who took two tires under the caution.

“I can’t believe it, dude — he’s driving away from me!” Busch radioed after the final restart.

In fact, Logano pulled away to win by 2.619 seconds over Busch, who nevertheless extended his lead in the Nationwide standings to 192 points over sixth-place finisher Carl Edwards. Brian Vickers ran third, followed by Leffler and Kevin Harvick.

“We thought we got beat there at the end,” said Logano, who won his third race of the season and his first at Chicagoland. “Everybody else took tires except for the 38 (Leffler)… But the clean air was big.”

Busch conceded that his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate had the superior car. Busch’s Toyota was too loose for the driver’s liking.

“Joey had a better car than us tonight,” said Busch, who has two wins and four runner-up finishes in his last six starts. “I just couldn’t charge the corner (because of the loose condition), and I feel like that’s where I was getting beat.”

Brad Keselowski’s championship hopes suffered a severe blow when he ran out of fuel before pitting on Lap 57 during the first green-flag run of the race. Keselowski lost two laps before his crew could get the stalled No. 88 Chevrolet refired. Though he rallied for an 18th-place finish and held third in the Nationwide standings, Keselowski fell 334 points behind Busch.

The same fate befell Ryan Newman, Keselowski’s teammate-for-a day at JR Motorsports. Newman was out of gas when he pitted from the lead on Lap 57 and lost a lap in the pits. He finished 22nd.

Note: The average speed of 147.340 mph was a race record, breaking Busch’s record of 144.443 mph from last year. The race also set records for fewest cautions (two) and fewest caution laps (11)

NASCAR Race Number 18
Unofficial Race Results for the Dollar General 300 Powered By Coca-Cola
- Friday, July 10, 2009
Chicagoland Speedway - Joliet, IL - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300 Miles - Purse: $1,564,633
Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 3 20 Joey Logano GameStop/Wii Sports Resort Toyota 200 195 10 132.4 $82,270 Running 3 96
2 6 18 Kyle Busch Z-Line Designs Toyota 200 175 5 128.1 $60,275 Running 2 78
3 2 32 Brian Vickers Dollar General Stores Toyota 200 170 5 113.6 $53,550 Running 2 2
4 12 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 200 160 101.1 $47,318 Running
5 10 33 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John’s Chevrolet 200 155 119.2 $33,625 Running
6 1 60 Carl Edwards Scotts/Ortho Ford 200 155 5 107.6 $35,525 Running 1 17
7 17 16 Greg Biffle CitiFinancial Ford 200 151 5 88.7 $28,675 Running 1 1
8 13 10 David Reutimann Dollar General Stores Toyota 200 142 85.2 $27,625 Running
9 15 1 Mike Bliss Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Chevrolet 200 143 5 85.4 $37,603 Running 1 1
10 9 12 Justin Allgaier # Verizon Wireless Dodge 200 134 83.3 $33,193 Running
11 16 29 Jeff Burton Holiday Inn Chevrolet 200 130 71.1 $25,925 Running
12 8 99 Trevor Bayne Aaron’s Toyota 199 127 75.4 $31,093 Running
13 25 62 Brendan Gaughan # 5-hour Energy Chevrolet 199 124 87.2 $30,943 Running
14 11 98 Paul Menard Libman/Menards Ford 198 121 77.0 $23,565 Running
15 26 40 Scott Wimmer StopRepairBills.com Chevrolet 198 118 96.5 $29,598 Running
16 21 66 Steve Wallace USfidelis Chevrolet 198 115 92.6 $29,613 Running
17 18 15 Michael Annett # Hype Energy Drink Toyota 198 112 86.3 $29,478 Running
18 14 88 Brad Keselowski Degree V12 Chevrolet 197 109 84.4 $28,818 Running
19 35 27 Jason Keller Pull Ups/Jewel-Osco Ford 197 106 86.2 $28,608 Running
20 30 11 Scott Lagasse Jr. # E-Pak Manufacturing Toyota 197 103 61.6 $29,548 Running
21 22 09 John Wes Townley # Zaxby’s Ford 197 100 52.9 $28,288 Running
22 4 5 Ryan Newman Fastenal Chevrolet 197 102 5 90.4 $22,460 Running 1 5
23 34 34 Tony Raines Lube Pros Chevrolet 196 94 53.0 $28,443 Running
24 24 87 Joe Nemechek New York City Bagel Deli Chevrolet 196 91 87.3 $27,933 Running
25 39 81 Michael McDowell # D.H. Griffin Companies/NPP Dodge 196 88 53.6 $27,948 Running
26 29 70 Shelby Howard ForeTravel Chevrolet 196 85 61.2 $27,688 Running
27 37 28 Kenny Wallace U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet 196 82 58.3 $27,578 Running
28 41 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Mahindra Tractors Chevrolet 195 79 53.9 $27,458 Running
29 23 01 Danny O’Quinn Jr. 7-Up/Sun Drop Chevrolet 194 76 59.8 $27,308 Running
30 27 26 Dennis Setzer Fischer Honda Dodge 194 73 40.2 $27,498 Running
31 38 24 Eric McClure Hefty Ford 194 70 35.5 $27,063 Running
32 40 61 Matthew Carter Shoffner Racing Ford 189 67 35.2 $26,953 Running
33 42 07 Mike Harmon Protex Bardahl Chevrolet 185 64 59.9 $26,843 Running
34 5 6 David Ragan Discount Tire Ford 107 61 45.7 $20,715 Running
35 43 50 Jeremy Clements Graphic Arts Express/Bail USA Chevrolet 92 58 51.8 $20,155 Steering
36 36 73 Derrike Cope Derrike Cope Inc. Dodge 24 55 64.3 $20,045 Ignition
37 31 05 Casey Atwood 31-W Insulation Ford 19 52 32.6 $26,398 Overheating
38 33 0 Mike Wallace sponsordavis.com Chevrolet 19 49 52.3 $19,870 Engine
39 32 78 Kevin Lepage CKM Dodge 15 46 35.7 $19,740 Rear End
40 7 47 Kelly Bires constructionjobs.com Toyota 8 43 36.5 $26,098 Transmission
41 19 91 Terry Cook # MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet 6 40 28.0 $19,520 Vibration
42 20 04 Kertus Davis JD Racing Chevrolet 2 37 26.9 $19,340 Vibration
43 28 49 Mark Green GetMoreVacations.com Chevrolet 1 34 27.8 $19,212 Ignition
Race Comments: Before an estimated crowd of 60,000 Joey Logano won the Dollar General 300 Powered by Coca-Cola, his fourth NASCAR Nationwide Series win. Prior to the race, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field for reasons indicated: No. 40 (engine change), No. 47 (adjustment outside impound).

Failed to Qualify: (6) 90 Johnny Chapman, 19 J C Stout, 31 Stanton Barrett, 52 Kevin Hamlin, 89 Morgan Shepherd, 96 Brian Keselowski.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 02 Mins, 10 Secs. Average Speed: 147.340 MPH Margin of Victory: 2.619 Seconds
Caution Flags: 2 for 11 laps: Laps: 93-97 (Debris [29]); 186-191 (Debris [29]).
Lead Changes: 10 among 7 drivers: C. Edwards 1-17; J. Logano 18-51; B. Vickers 52; R. Newman 53-57; J. Logano 58-93; K. Busch 94-151; B. Vickers 152; G. Biffle 153; M. Bliss 154; K. Busch 155-174; J. Logano 175-200.
Top 10 Driver Points: (1) K. Busch 2,931;(2) C. Edwards 2,739;(3) Brad Keselowski 2,597;(4) J. Leffler 2,527;(5) J. Logano 2,395;(6) J. Allgaier # 2,140;(7) M. Bliss 2,129;(8) B. Gaughan # 2,080;(9) S. Wallace 2,065;(10) J. Keller 2,013.
Coors Light Pole Award : Carl Edwards, #60 (176.956 mph) Featherlite Most Improved Driver : Mike Bliss, #1 20 places
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder : Joey Logano, #20 Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race : Jason Leffler, #38
Raybestos Rookie of the Race : Justin Allgaier, #12 Reigning Champion/Next Highest : Carl Edwards, #60
Sunoco Diamond Performance : Joey Logano, #20 WIX Lap Leader : Mike Bliss, #1 (1 Lap)
Next Race: Jul. 18, 2009 - Gateway International Raceway