Logano wins Talladega for third time
Published 4:07 pm Thursday, May 3, 2018
- Joey Logano, No. 22, wins the Talladega Geico 500 for the third time in his career. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media
Joey Logano took the blue oval to Victory Lane for the third time in his career at Talladega Superspeedway. The No. 22, with the horsepower of the Ford FR9 EFI engine, drove the Ford Fusion across the finish line to win the sixth consecutive race at the superspeedway for Ford Performance and 108th Cup win for Team Penske.
“It was a great car, very fast,” said Logano in Victory Lane. “The Fords dominated today. I am so proud to be in a Blue Oval with Roush Yates (Engines) motors under the hood. That is a huge deal. A big part of our victory today. Teamwork was a big part of it as well. It is always exciting to win at a superspeedway, especially Talladega because you never know you’ve got it until you cross the line.”
“Congratulations to Joey, Roger and Team Penske,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “I’m very proud of our team at Roush Yates (Engines). They did a great job responding to the restrictor plate change for the weekend. To have two Stewart-Haas cars sitting on the front row and six Fords in the top-10 at the end of the race is a testament to all the hard work and dedication of our entire team. This was a big day for us. It marked our 325th win and we could not be happier to be marking this milestone here at Talladega with Ford Performance.”
Two Fords started from the front row in the Geico 500 on Sunday. After a decisive second round of qualifying on Saturday, Kevin Harvick won the pole and fellow Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch in P2. Harvick covered the 2.66-mile distance in 49.247 seconds (194.448 mph) to earn his second Talladega pole and the 22nd of his career.
Sunday was a day controlled by the combined Ford Performance teams. Six different Ford Fusions led a total of 126 out of the 188-lap race; winner Logano (70), Stage 1 winner Brad Keselowski (21), Kevin Harvick (12), Stage 2 winner Paul Menard (8), Matt DiBenedetto (6), Kurt Busch (5) and 2017 winner, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (4).
Logano leveraged the horsepower of the Ford FR9 engine to take the lead after a late race restart on lap 18. He was able to hold off a hard charging Busch, in the last lap of the race to win with a margin of victory of only .127 of a second.