(NASCAR Wire Service)
By Reid Spencer ~ NASCAR Wire Service
Joey Logano celebrates at Martinsville Speedway Saturday after his first career Camping World Truck Series victory (Photo: Daniel Shirey/Getty Images for NASCAR)
MARTINSVILE, Va.—Race runner-up Matt Crafton said Joey Logano barreled into Turn 1 on the final restart “like he was shot out of a cannon.”
Ducking to the inside with the accelerator mashed was the move Logano, the Coors Light Pole Award winner, had to make to vault from third to first and win Saturday’s Kroger 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway in an event that went eight circuits past its posted distance of 250 laps.
Logano led 150 laps in winning the first NCWTS race of his career and becoming the 26th driver to take a checkered flag in each of NASCAR’s top three national touring series.
After Crafton led the field to green on Lap 257, Logano and third-place finisher Erik Jones made a sandwich of Crafton’s No. 88 Toyota, and Logano squeezed his No. 29 Brad Keselowski Racing Ford through the first two corners into the lead. With a car that was set up for short runs, Logano was untouchable the rest of the way and arrived at the finish line with a .431-second advantage over the two-time defending series champion.
“I just had a great restart,” Logano said of the winning move. “The tires worked out well. I prepped them good down the back straightaway and made sure I had them clean enough. I got a good jump, a fourth-gear grab there, drove it in there and hope I got past him—and it was able to stick down there…
“It’s cool to say I’ve won in all three series now. It’s kind of special.”
Logano is the first driver to put a Ford truck in Victory Lane since Ricky Craven in 2005.
Crafton caused the caution that sent the race to overtime when he bumped Cole Custer’s No. 00 Chevrolet off Turn 4 and sent him spinning on Lap 248. Crafton’s tap was retaliation for an aggressive move on Custer’s part on lap 246, where Custer drove hard into Turn 1, knocked both Crafton and Logano out of the way and took a short-lived lead.
But Crafton soon caught Custer and moved him out of the way. With Custer’s Chevrolet sitting in the middle of the frontstretch, NASCAR was forced to call the ninth caution of the race, setting up the green-white-checkered-flag finish.
“I drove in too hard and couldn’t stop, and I hit ‘em a little too hard,” Custer said of the move that gave him the lead for two laps. “It worked, so I knew he (Crafton) was going to come back and nudge me a little bit. I was giving it everything I had to try and stay up there.”
In vain, as it turned out. Driving a truck fielded by JR Motorsports, Custer finished 16th after overcoming two pit road speeding penalties.
Crafton led 100 laps in his second-place effort and took the series lead from Tyler Reddick, who ran fifth. Reddick trails Crafton by two points through three events this season.
Johnny Sauter came home fourth, followed by Reddick, Daniel Suarez, James Buescher, John Wes Townley, Matt Tifft and Justin Boston.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race – Kroger 250
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia
Saturday, March 28, 2015
1. (1) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 258, $51336.
2. (13) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 258, $31542.
3. (4) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 258, $25488.
4. (9) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 258, $19518.
5. (7) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 258, $18458.
6. (11) Daniel Suarez(i), Toyota, 258, $16574.
7. (15) James Buescher, Chevrolet, 258, $14158.
8. (5) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 258, $16352.
9. (19) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 258, $16297.
10. (21) Justin Boston #, Toyota, 258, $17191.
11. (3) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 258, $16186.
12. (14) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 258, $16046.
13. (26) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 258, $15990.
14. (18) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 258, $15935.
15. (6) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 258, $16252.
16. (2) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 258, $15769.
17. (12) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 257, $13663.
18. (17) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 257, $15658.
19. (22) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, 257, $15602.
20. (10) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 257, $16019.
21. (23) Caleb Holman, Chevrolet, 257, $13241.
22. (20) Mason Mingus, Chevrolet, 256, $13213.
23. (27) Korbin Forrister #, Chevrolet, 255, $15436.
24. (31) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 250, $14130.
25. (30) Tommy Regan, Chevrolet, 248, $14197.
26. (24) Jake Griffin, Chevrolet, Handling, 218, $12992.
27. (28) Cody Ware #, Chevrolet, Vibration, 216, $12964.
28. (29) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 174, $12716.
29. (16) John H. Nemechek #, Chevrolet, Transmission, 173, $12660.
30. (8) David Gilliland(i), Ford, Brakes, 132, $12160.
31. (25) Bryan Silas, Chevrolet, Overheating, 120, $10660.
32. (32) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, Rear Gear, 83, $9660.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 68.214 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 59 Mins, 22 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.431 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 9 for 61 laps.
Lead Changes: 14 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano(i) 1-36; M. Mingus 37-40; J. Logano(i) 41-110; M. Crafton 111-161; J. Logano(i) 162; M. Crafton 163-178; J. Logano(i) 179-180; M. Crafton 181-193; E. Jones # 194-195; M. Crafton 196-205; J. Logano(i) 206-244; M. Crafton 245; C. Custer 246-247; M. Crafton 248-256; J. Logano(i) 257-258.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Logano(i) 6 times for 150 laps; M. Crafton 6 times for 100 laps; M. Mingus 1 time for 4 laps; C. Custer 1 time for 2 laps; E. Jones # 1 time for 2 laps.
Top 10 in Points: M. Crafton – 128; T. Reddick – 126; E. Jones # – 122; J. Sauter – 112; J. Buescher – 100; J. Townley – 90; R. Black Jr. # – 89; C. Hayley # – 84; S. Gallagher # – 84; B. Kennedy – 83.
One Sprint Cup driver in a feeder series that the max win purse is 50 grand. To make 50 grand in a Sprint Cup race for Martinsville is finishing 43rd. It’s pathetic and sad. I’ve stopped watching Xfinity because their is always 5 or more Sprint Cup drivers in the race. And surprise, surprise they all finish in the top five. Do the Sprint Cup drivers really need that extra cash? Don’t they understand by winning a race agents a team that has 1/10 the power and money a Sprint Cup driver and team have makes them struggle and kill their hopes and dreams advance in the future?
Sprint Cup drivers won 9 of the 22 races last year in the Trucks. For Xfinity they won 22 of the 33 races. It’s high time that NASCAR starts limiting the attempts a Sprint Cup driver can race in a feeder series. This is just sad. From controlling a race with yellow flags to determining who has cheated and who has not. It’s no wonder why NASCAR is becoming more of a joke round the world.
jUST ANOTHER SPOILED LITTLE RICH KID IN TOP EQUIPMENT,DADDY PAID HIS WAY INTO NASCAR,BECOMING THE SAME OLD STORY.PUT HIM IN EQUAL CAR WITH 95% OF DRIVERS AND HE IS AVERAGE.TELL ME I AM WRONG.
Ok. You’re wrong.
Seriously, I am anything but a Logano fan, really can’t stand the kid, but you have to acknowledge the fact that he has 6 top 10’s in 6 starts in the Cup races this year. As well as 2 wins and a second in the XFinity / Truck starts. Guessing that this would make him a rather elite driver, like him or not. Definitely puts him out of average.
HE IS OFF TO A REALLY GOOD START,MAYBE I WAS A LITTLE HARSH,BUT IN MY EYES HE IS NOT AN ELITE DRIVER.AT LEAST NOT YET.I CAN NOT SEE THAT HAPPENING.GOD HELP US IF THAT IS ALL THAT IS COMING UP THROUGH THE RANKS.WHAT HAPPENED TO RACING.THE KID IS A DORK.
Paul… So I guess with your Theory, Keith Rocco should only race in SK and not LM, Trucks and Legends, Ryan Preece should stick to Tour Mods and not run SK anymore, Pitkat should probably also stick to Tour Mods and no longer play with SK’s and Late Models.
Racers want to race. Any time we can get in a car, truck or gokart, it’s about racing for us. Don’t blame us, blame the teams who put those drivers in the lower divisions if you must but as I said, as racers, all we care about is racing.
Rich, It took Logano how long to do what he is doing? I bet if you put Kyle Larson in that 22 car right now the way that team is, he would never lose a race. Logano is sub-par. They just found a formula that works for him right now. I still see him make plenty of stupid mistakes on track and he will continue to do so.