Pit strategy propels Joey Logano to third straight victory at Dover
June 1, 2013
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER,
Del. -- Joey Logano used pit strategy to erase a five-second deficit
and win Saturday's 5-Hour Energy 200 Nationwide Series race
at Dover International Speedway.
A
two-tire call got Logano out front for a restart with 34 laps left,
while a four-tire choice on the same pit stop buried Kyle Busch
in traffic and changed the course of the race.
The victory was Logano's first of the season, his third straight at the Monster Mile and the 19th
of his career. Brian Vickers
ran second, .576 seconds behind Logano. Matt Kenseth finished third,
followed by Trevor Bayne. Busch passed Sam Hornish Jr. for the fifth
spot in the closing laps.
Kasey
Kahne was an integral part of the third caution, on Lap 113, when he
made Mike Wallace pay for repeatedly holding him up by punting
Wallace's car off Turn 2. Kahne used the opportunity to grab the race
lead, thanks to a two-tire call under the yellow on Lap 114.
Kahne
held off Busch after the restart on Lap 121, but a quick caution a lap
later -- after Reed Sorenson's Chevy stalled at the exit
from pit road -- gave Busch another shot at a restart on Lap 129. Busch
cleared Kahne into Turn 1 on the restart lap and opened a lead of
nearly one second.
But caution for Dexter Stacey's spinoff Turn 4 on Lap 161 turned the race upside-down.
Busch
and Kahne took four tires on a Lap 163 pit stop under caution, while
nine other lead-lap cars went with two-tire calls and came
out ahead of Busch and Kahne, who restarted 10th and 11th, respectively.
Mired in traffic, Busch struggled to move forward, and Logano, who led the field to green on Lap 167, drove away.
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