BROOKLYN, Michigan — Joey Logano broke into Victory Lane at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, claiming his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win of the 2016 season when he took the checkered flag in the FireKeepers Casino 400.
Logano became the 10th different winner of the season.
Sprint Cup rookie Chase Elliott finished second, Kyle Larson was third and Brad Keselowski fourth, respectively.
“What a fun race, racing with Chase and Kyle,” Logano said. “It was fun to see the young guys up there racing. I am not alone up there as a young guy anymore. I have guys up there younger than me racing for a win.”
Kevin Harvick finished fifth after starting 29th.
“I’ve got to say ‘thank you’ to everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing, especially on the No. 4 Outback Chevrolet, and everybody from Busch, and Jimmy John’s, and Mobil 1 and everybody who helps this car,” Harvick said. “They fought all day and had great pit stops on pit road. We were able to overcome some missed-time cautions, again. It seems like the weekend of cautions; that’s what got us in our starting spot, anyway. But, all-in-all, everybody kept their heads up and kept digging, and we got a good finish out of it.”
NASCAR used the Michigan race as an experiment aimed at lowering downforce with a shorter rear spoiler and smaller front splitter. The changes didn’t hinder Logano, as he dominated by leading nearly three quarters of the 200-lap race.
“What a great race car,” Logano said. “To win here in Roger’s (Penske, car owner) backyard and Ford’s backyard, this is always a big win for us, here. We appreciate the great car. What a crazy race with the low downforce and with more cautions and more opportunity to screw up, pretty much.”
After losing the lead to Elliott on a lap 116 restart, Logano got back up front for good on the next restart following a yellow flag on lap 148.
Elliott was slow to get up to speed on the restart and dropped outside the top-five. He quickly recovered, racing back up to fourth before the caution came out again on lap 155. When the race returned to green, Elliott quickly found himself in second.
“I just did something dumb,” Elliott said. “You can’t do dumb stuff and win these races. Completely my fault. The guys gave me a great car today. This whole NAPA group has been working so hard these past few weeks, and that one was on me. Like I said, you can’t do dumb stuff to win these things, and I did today.”
Logano started on the pole but wasn’t credited with a lap led until lap 11. Martin Truex Jr., who started next to Logano on the front row, took the top spot at the start of the race and led the first 10 laps.