Friday looked like Denny Hamlin’s night (May 11). The Virginia native dominated the night at Darlington in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, but the Lady in Black proved to be a fickle dance partner and when the checkered flag flew, it was Hamlin’s teammate Joey Logano who visited victory lane for the second week in a row in the Nationwide Series.
Logano took the lead on the last caution flag of the night and got the restart he needed to put enough distance between his No. 20 and Hamlin so that Hamlin couldn’t get close enough to make a move in the two-lap green-white-checkered run to the end. Hamlin came home second and Brad Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and Austin Dillon rounded out the top five.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led the field to the green flag, but Darlington is known for being a difficult track to race and the caution flew on just the second lap for rookie Ryan Blaney, who got loose in turn 2 and hit the wall. The chain reaction caught up Matt Frahm, Casey Roderick, Chase Miller and Blake Koch as well as each suffered some degree of damage.
After the restart, Hamlin tipped his hand to everyone, taking over the lead and opening up to several seconds within the next 30 laps. Mike Wallace brought out the second caution on lap 35 after a cut tire sent his No. 01 into the wall. Just four laps after the restart from that incident, TJ Bell tried to pass Josh Richards on the inside, but didn’t give Richards enough room on top and the result was a mangled racecar for Bell.
It was Hamlin on point for the restart and he led Logano, Stenhouse, Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler when the green came out. Busch made a brief bid for the lead, but Hamlin got back by on lap 52 and he took the field to school for the ensuing green-flag run, opening up a six-second lead by lap 110.
Busch lost a tire on lap 126, scraping the wall in the No. 54. The leaders pitted with just 20 laps to go in the race, and a two-tire strategy put Sadler in front of the field for the restart with 15 laps to go. Sadler held off second-place Logano as Logano fought Hamlin for second.
Hamlin was able to get by Logano and was just starting to work over Sadler for the lead when Brendan Gaughan had a tire let go and brought out the yellow again with 10 laps remaining. This time, nobody came to pit road.
Sadler would restart with the lead, but the two-tire move showed its weakness as Hamlin and Logano were able to challenge. Logano made a move to the inside, but clipped Sadler’s left rear, squeezing Sadler up the track directly into Hamlin’s line.
Sadler hit the wall and Hamlin suffered damage that would relegate him to second in the race. Kasey Kahne was also caught in the fracas. Sadler was able to limp to pit road, but a broken oil line made for a lengthy cleanup and set up the GWC.
Logano got a big jump on what proved to be the race’s final restart. He held off a charging Hamlin to take back-to-back wins for the second time in his career. Logano made a point of calling Sadler immediately to apologize for the unintentional contact that ended Sadler’s night and cost him the points lead. The win was the first for Logano at Darlington and his 12th Nationwide victory overall.
Sadler had hoped to gain ground on points leader Stenhouse, but his 24th-place finish allowed Stenhouse to stretch the lead to 23 on the strength of his own sixth-place run. Sadler remains second in points. Dillon is currently third, 35 behind Stenhouse, and Hornish and Cole Whitt round out the top five in Nationwide Series points.
The series heads to Iowa next week.
2012 VFW SPORT CLIPS HELP A HERO 200 RACE RESULTS
About the author
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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