Dayton Daily News

Logano passes Keselowski on last lap

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Joey Logano dominated early and then passed Brad Keselowski on the final lap to win NASCAR’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and end the early season domination of Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsport­s on Sunday.

Logano won the pole and led a strong showing of three straight Team Penske drivers in qualifying, but Keselowski looked like the Ford driver to beat late in the race. Keselowski had help from Corey LaJoie, but Logano got a push from Christophe­r Bell that proved decisive on the final lap.

Bell finished third in a Toyota and LaJoie finished a career-best fourth in a Chevrolet.

“The first win of the season always feels better,” said the reigning Cup champion, who led 141 of the 260 laps.

Logano’s win ended a streak of four consecutiv­e victories by Chevrolet to open the NASCAR Cup season, including back-to-back wins by William Byron of Hendrick.

Pushed by his Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric, Logano passed Keselowski to regain the lead with 34 laps to go.

Keselowski regained the lead to setup the last-lap drama.

Pereze wins Sauid GP

Sergio Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and Max Verstappen drove from 15th to second to give Red Bull a 1-2 finish Sunday in what is shaping up to be a runaway season for the reigning Formula One champions.

And there have only been two races so far.

But it’s been two Red Bull wins, two 1-2 finishes, and an air of desperatio­n from everyone else on the grid.

Fernando Alonso finished third for the second consecutiv­e race for what would have been his 100th career podium. But he was later handed a 10-second penalty for incorrectl­y serving an early penalty and that dropped him to fourth.

But even as the Spaniard enjoys a renaissanc­e with his new Aston Martin team, Alonso has acknowledg­ed he had little chance at beating Red Bull.

Verstappen won a record 15 races last season and a second consecutiv­e F1 title, and Perez added another two victories as the 17 total wins in 23 races easily gave Red Bull the constructo­rs title.

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