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Penske's Logano survives overtime shootout for NASCAR Michigan win

Team Penske's Joey Logano survived a two-lap shootout to score a dominant win at Michigan and take the NASCAR Cup Series points' lead with his second win of the season

With just four laps of the intended 200 to run in the race which was delayed 24-hours because of rain, Erik Jones' #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota entry suffered a flat left-rear tyre, spitting him onto the infield.

Stage one victor Logano, who had dominated the majority of the race from pole position in engine manufacturer Ford's home state, managed to get the jump on the pack as the two lap race to the finish ensued to seal his 23rd career victory, leading a track record 163 out of 200 laps.

Busch had to overtake Truex after the final restart to take his second runner-up spot of the season for Chip Ganassi Racing in his Chevrolet Camaro, as Truex ensured all the series manufacturers were represented in the top three with third for JGR in his #19 Camry.

Daniel Suarez ran strongly in the top 10 for the majority of the race, securing a strong result in fourth place, having made up two places on the overtime restart, Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch losing out.

Erstwhile points leader and team-mate to Truex, Kyle Busch, was fourth on that restart, having had a quiet but effective race through the field from a lowly 15th on the grid.

But he was punished for being sluggish by Suarez, who narrowly pipped him to the position.

Brad Keselowski was fortunate to record a seventh top six finish of 2019 for Penske in its best start to a NASCAR season for over 20 years.

The #2 was slapped with a drive-through penalty at mid-point for a safety violation whilst on pitroad, which dropped him down the order to a lapped 33rd.

Strategy was key around the two-mile circuit, with many drivers opting to only take two new tyres at pitstops in a bid to gain track position.

However, at the final green-flag stops around lap 175, Kevin Harvick was fitted with four new tyres by his SHR crew.

The move had looked to have backfired on the #4 Ford, as he slipped from dicing with Logano to 20th and became mired in the midfield pack.

However, the Jones caution allowed Harvick to recover some ground as he took seventh, just ahead of Ryan Newman (Roush Fenway), while Ryan Blaney made sure the three Penske cars reached the top 10. Alex Bowman scored 10th for Chip Ganassi.

Austin Dillion, who won stage two after Logano pitted for a splash and dash in the dying moments of the segment, was a lapped 26th in the #3 Richard Childress Racing entry.

Also hitting trouble, the last Michigan winner, Clint Bowyer, crashed at Turn 2 in the second half of the race, while Chase Elliott's run of six consecutive top 10s at Michigan ended after an extended spell in the pits thanks to contact with the wall.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 203 2h52m50.s
2 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 203 0.147s
3 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 203 0.314s
4 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 203 0.710s
5 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 203 0.954s
6 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 203 1.130s
7 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 203 1.148s
8 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 203 1.317s
9 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 203 1.332s
10 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 1.439s
11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 203 1.614s
12 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 203 1.705s
13 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 203 2.063s
14 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 203 2.085s
15 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 2.165s
16 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 203 2.191s
17 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 203 2.236s
18 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 2.667s
19 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 203 2.864s
20 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 203 2.880s
21 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing Toyota 203 2.892s
22 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 203 3.132s
23 Corey LaJoie Go FAS Racing Ford 203 3.350s
24 Matt Tifft Front Row Motorsports Ford 203 3.680s
25 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 203 3.709s
26 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 202 1 Lap
27 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 202 1 Lap
28 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 201 2 Laps
29 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 201 2 Laps
30 Garrett Smithley Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 200 3 Laps
31 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 199 4 Laps
32 Quin Houff Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 198 5 Laps
33 Josh Bilicki Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 197 6 Laps
34 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 195 8 Laps
35 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 130 Accident
36 Kyle Weatherman Petty Ware Racing Ford 69 Accident

Drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Joey Logano 614
2 Kyle Busch 605
3 Brad Keselowski 541
4 Kevin Harvick 539
5 Chase Elliott 531
6 Martin Truex Jr. 499
7 Denny Hamlin 491
8 Kurt Busch 485
9 Ryan Blaney 434
10 Alex Bowman 433
11 Aric Almirola 426
12 Clint Bowyer 404
13 Daniel Suarez 401
14 William Byron 383
15 Kyle Larson 369
16 Jimmie Johnson 364
17 Ryan Newman 361
18 Erik Jones 357
19 Paul Menard 336
20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 326
21 Austin Dillon 306
22 Chris Buescher 304
23 Ty Dillon 265
24 Daniel Hemric 234
25 Ryan Preece 213
26 Matt DiBenedetto 204
27 David Ragan 176
28 Corey LaJoie 170
29 Darrell Wallace Jr. 170
30 Michael McDowell 161
31 Matt Tifft 136
32 Reed Sorenson 46
33 Quin Houff 41
34 Jamie McMurray 19
35 Stanton Barrett 2
36 Casey Mears 1

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