Logano clinches Cup finale spot with Kansas win
KANSAS CITY, KAN. » Joey Logano used every bit of the track to hold off Kevin Harvick over a long, finishing green-flag run to win the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on Sunday and earn a spot in the championship round at Phoenix.
The 2018 series champion had hung around the front of the pack all afternoon, but he had only led one other time on a cold, blustery day before taking the lead fromHarvickwith 44 laps to go.
Harvick, the winningest driver so far this season, kept pulling up to Logano’s bumper coming out of corners but simply couldn’t make a pass stick. Logano deftly used a parade of lapped traffic to score the win and head to Phoenix, where he already has won this season, withachance to win a second Cup Series tile.
It was the first win for Logano since before the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the track to reduce the crowd to about 10,000 fans. But it came at the
best of times, giving Team Penske a couple of weeks to prepare for another title run rather than stress about races at Texas and Martinsville.
Alex Bowman finished third, Brad Keselowski was fourth and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five.
Chase Elliott, who won the opening stage, wound up sixth after dealing with radio problems that at one point caused him to mistakenly pit. Elliott tried using a backup radio and at one point resorted to hand signs with his team on pit road to convey what he
wanted done with the car.
Ryan Blaney, WilliamByron, playoff driver Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell rounded out the top 10.
Elliott picked up his ninth stage win of the season by getting around Harvick midway through the opening stage, but the radio trouble that had conspired against him really bit him during the second stage.
Most leaders already had pitted when Matt Kenseth hit the front-stretch wall to bring out a caution. The remaining cars headed down pit road with 12 laps left in the stage, but Elliott
crew chief Alan Gustafson wanted his driver to stay on the track. The message not got through, and Elliott took a left turn onto pit road and lost a handful of spots.
Hamlin and Harvick, who had combined for 16 wins this season, wound up dueling for the stage win. Hamlin managed to hold off the 2014 series champion to win his 10th stage of the season.
NHRA » Steve Torrence powered past father Billy Torrence on Sunday in the Top Final final on their home track in the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals.
Points leader Steve Torrence won for the second time in three years at Texas Motorplex, finishing at 3.716 seconds at 328.78mph in the final. The two-time defending series champion has four victories this year and 40 overall.
Jack Beckman won in Funny Car, Matt Hartford in Pro Stock and Jerry Savoie in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the ninth of 11 events intheNHRACamping World Drag Racing Series season.