Logano pulls away from Larson, earns Las Vegas Xfinity victory

LAS VEGAS » Joey Logano pulled away from Kyle Larson on a restart with four laps left and held on to win the NASCAR Xfinity race Saturday.

Logano chose the outside lane on the last restart and moved in front of Larson out of the fourth turn at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for his first Xfinity victory since October at Charlotte.

Daniel Suarez put Cup regulars in the top three spots. Justin Allgaier was fourth, followed by Austin Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr.

NASCAR cup regulars Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski won the first two stages of the 200-lap race.

Elliott Sadler finished 10th and retained the points lead.

Logano, who started fourth in the No. 12 Ford, was in front to start the final stage with 102 laps left and re-took the lead after a cycle of green-flag pit stops with 55 laps left. Logano was first out of the pits after a debris caution and held the lead on the restart with 33 laps remaining.

Logano then held on following three more cautions, the last coming when Matt Tifft ran into Spencer Gallagher and spun out.

There was another wreck on the final lap.

Busch started from the pole and just edged Larson to win the first 45-lap segment despite dealing with vibration issues.

Larson beat Busch out of the pits on the ensuing caution, but later gave up the lead to get new tires. That allowed Keselowski, who will start from the pole in Sunday’s Cup race, to take the second stage after 90 laps ahead of Busch.

But Keselowski had an unscheduled pit stop early in the final segment because of a loose wheel and ended up 10th.

Busch, last year’s Xfinity winner on the 1.5-mile oval, finished seventh.

Darrell Wallace Jr. was sixth despite being ill.

It was a rough day for Brendan Gaughan at his home track. He had to go behind the wall in the second segment for a new carburetor at his home track. Not long after he returned, he spun out. Gaughan finished 35th. And all of a sudden you lose that so quickly.”

Jones was at his North Carolina home last March when his mother called. His father had lost feeling in his arm and went to the doctor thinking he had a pinched nerve. The diagnosis was devastating: lung cancer that had spread to his brain.

“It was just tough to see someone kind of fade away over a few months,” Jones said.

As his father got weaker, a surprise guest showed up to his Michigan home: car owner Joe Gibbs. He wanted Dave Jones to know the news before he even informed his son. Gibbs had brokered a deal for Jones to race in NASCAR’s top series in 2017.

Jones fondly recalls the ensuing conversation with his dad.

“It was cool for that moment to sit down with him and say, ‘We did it. We’re here and next year we’re going to be at the peak, man,”’ Jones said.