With 20 laps to go, it looked like four different drivers could take home the trophy at the short track in Virginia. Matt Kenseth took the lead on lap 362 at Richmond International Raceway and kept it even after two restarts in the last few laps of the race. After JJ Yeley’s engine let go setting up the last 10 laps of the race, Kenseth was suddenly in battle with Jeff Gordon. Not long after that, Brad Keselowski got into the mix. Out of nowhere, Joey Logano shot past them all and took the lead with four laps to go. He would end the race in the lead, his second win of the season.
Logano had a good car all night as he was in the top ten for the majority of the Toyota Care 400. He had the lead twice and only led 10 laps. Jeff Gordon had a strong car and led the most laps with 173.
It was an interesting start to the race. Pole sitter Kyle Larson got a bump from Clint Bowyer and went spinning on the first lap. On the restart, Brad Keselowski got the lead and stayed there until lap 30 and slipped to third place. Kevin Harvick then took over the lead and attempted a repeat of his win in the Nationwide Series race the night before. Harvick and Keselowski would trade places and then it was Gordon’s turn at the lead and stayed there for almost half of the race.
Gordon was good on the restarts, something that he had been struggling with from the beginning of the season. He would get shuffled back until he fought for the lead on the last few laps of the race.
Even though Larson started 43rd after his spin on lap one, he battled back to a 16th place finish.
Matt Kenseth stealthily made his way to clean air as he wasn’t in the top ten until 200 laps to go in the race. He and the crew chief made the right adjustments and all of a sudden with 42 laps to go he was closing in on Jeff Gordon for the lead. It appeared as if Kenseth would pull out the win as he was leading near the end, but Logano had other plans.
Tire issues caused fires for a few drivers Saturday night. The right front tires would cord and the fabric would get wrapped around the hub and catch fire. Reed Sorenson, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Cole Whitt experienced fires in their vehicles and weren’t injured. Sorenson told FoxSports1 reporters he was slow to get out of the car as he had smoke inhalation.
The top ten: Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex, Jr.
This is Logano’s second victory and fifth top 10 finish in 2014. This win locks in his spot in the Chase for the
NASCAR Sprint Cup, barring Logano doesn’t fall out of the top 30 in driver points and miss any races.
The next NASCAR Sprint Cup Race will be the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, May 4 at noon ET.
