Logano holds off Harvick for victory

Joey Logano claimed his third victory of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season on Saturday night, winning the 500-lap race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Kevin Harvick overcame two pit-road penalties, one for his crew’s going over the wall too soon and a second for speeding, to battle Logano during the final greenflag stretch after an eighth caution with 70 laps to go. But Logano maintained the lead in a Ford and Harvick finished second in a Chevrolet on the halfmile oval.

Logano lost the lead on pit road when a crewman dropped a right-rear lug nut during a yellow flag on lap 251. Carl Edwards restarted with the lead.

Kyle Busch, going for his fifth win of the season, took the lead on lap 281. He battled back and forth with Edwards for the top spot before he was forced to make a green-flag pit stop because of a loose wheel just before lap 350.

Edwards had to pit under green a few laps later for a cut right-front tire, handing the lead back to Logano.

Logano ran up front from that point except when Penske teammate Brad Keselowski stayed out during the last caution.

Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin finished third, Jimmie Johnson took fourth for his first top-five since the race at Daytona in July, and Clint Bowyer finished fifth. Edwards and Busch were seventh and eighth.

IndyCar: Penske’s Helio Castroneves won the pole for today’s race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway with a two-lap average of 220.530 mph. Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, the points leader with two races left, will start 19th. Graham Rahal, nine points back, qualified fifth.