Joey Logano won the Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, scoring his fourth Nationwide Series victory in his 34th start. He posted his third series win in 2009 in 15 races, ranking second to Kyle Busch’s five victories. Logano scored his third win on 1.5-mile tracks; he won the last series 1.5-mile race at Kentucky in June. He has finished in the top five in his last six starts; he has finished first or second in four of the last five races. Logano became the eighth different race winner in nine Chicagoland races. He led three times for 96 laps, including the final 26 laps. He led the most laps in a race for the third time in 2009.
Joe Gibbs Racing has won eight of the last 11 1.5-mile races. The team scored its 36th series win and its eighth of 2009. The team also scored its second win at Chicagoland, ranking second to Richard Childress Racing with three. Joe Gibbs Racing scored its sixth 1-2 finish (Kyle Busch has finished second in five of them) and fourth of 2009; Logano has won in three of the four 1-2 finishes in 2009. It was JGR’s third 1-2 finish in the last five races. The team’s drivers led 174 of the 200 laps (Logano: 96; Busch: 78).
Toyota finished 1-2-3-4 for the first time in the series.
The race had only two cautions for 11 laps setting a track record for lowest in both categories; the old record of three cautions for 15 laps was set in July 2008. The average speed of 147.343 mph set a race record at Chicagoland.
Busch (finished second) has finished first or second in the last six races; he tied Sam Ard for the second longest streak of top-2 finishes in series history (Jack Ingram holds the record with nine). Busch has now led 1,615 laps in 2009; tying Dale Earnhardt Jr. for fourth all time for the most laps led in a season.
Brian Vickers (third) scored his eighth top-10 finish in 10 races this season.
Jason Leffler (fourth) posted his 14th top-10 finish of 2009 and his 12th in the past 13 races.
Carl Edwards (sixth) posted his 14th top-10 finish of the season; he is now 192 points behind series leader Busch.
Justin Allgaier (10th) was the best finishing Rookie of the Year contender.
The top 10 consisted of five Toyotas, two Chevrolets, two Fords and a Dodge.
(Racing Resources/ESPN)(7-13-2009)
