CASPER
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DOVER, Del. (AP)—Joey Logano skidded down the track, shot straight back up and into the wall, then had his No. 20 T-boned by Reed Sorenson.
Then came the flips. Eight times in all, dangerously barrel-rolling across Dover International Speedway’s concrete track before landing on its side for a brief moment and tipping over to rest on its wheels. Logano’s father ran to the infield care center to check on his son, but the accident looked worse than the final result.
Logano, only 19, was shaken, but otherwise fine.
“It just really scared the heck out of me,” Logano said Sunday. “I haven’t seen a replay yet. I’m not sure I want see a replay. I started rolling and I was like, ‘Damn, please make this thing stop.’ And it wouldn’t. It just kept going and going.”
Logano appeared to get squeezed between Bobby Labonte and his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart. Labonte checked up and No. 96 clipped the No. 20 on the nose. Logano checked up and was tapped from behind by Stewart. That sent Logano sliding up-and-down the track like a yo-yo, collecting Sorenson, Martin Truex Jr. and Robby Gordon.
“Wish I saw that coming,” Stewart said. “Don’t know how to say sorry enough to Joey. I didn’t anticipate it coming, and I drilled right through him.”
Race winner Jimmie Johnson had no idea Logano was in the accident. Like any race fan, he couldn’t wait to go watch a replay.
“That’s exciting,” Johnson said. “I can’t wait to see the clip.”
The race was red-flagged for 23 minutes. All the drivers checked at the infield care center were relieved to hear Logano escaped the wreckage fine.
“It was the wildest ride I’ve ever been on,” Logano said. “You can’t go on a roller coaster any worse than that.”
His car reduced to scrap metal, Logano’s race was done. Labonte finished 23rd, Truex 33rd, and Gordon 34th. Stewart had nothing more than some cosmetic damage on the No. 14 and the Chase driver finished ninth.
“I’m just happy it landed on its wheels,” Logano said. “The good lord was with me on that one.”
STEWART’S COMEBACK: Tony Stewart not only avoided any serious damage in the Joey Logano chain-reaction accident, he came all the way back from 22nd to finish ninth.
Stewart’s No. 14 suffered some minor cosmetic damage, needing a patch on a hole in the front.
“I’m pretty proud of the effort they made to get it right,” Stewart said. “Once they got the hole patched up, it was good.”
A clean race the rest of the way and some swift pit stops maneuvered him up the pack. He also jumped a spot in the Chase standings and is now fifth. But his point deficit jumped from 74 to 106 behind leader Mark Martin.
“I can’t say I’m satisfied because I still lost points,” he said. “That’s how competitive this Chase is. I got a top 10 and I’m not happy with it.”
KENSETH’s FINISH: Matt Kenseth missed the first Chase for the first time since its inception in 2004. He raced at Dover like he was still in contention for a championship.
Kenseth, who won the first two races of the season before falling into a tailspin, finished third. It was his first top-five finish since the second race at Daytona.
Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, said he still comes to the track every week hoping to win. But he realized early in the season he likely wouldn’t be in the 10-driver Chase for the championship field.
“It wasn’t a big surprise to me that we missed the Chase. I saw it coming for three months,” he said. “We haven’t been performing. The whole company hasn’t been performing the way it needs to win a championship. And that’s not being negative or anything. That’s just obvious.”
So obvious that Kenseth isn’t convinced his Roush Fenway Racing teammate and Chase driver Carl Edwards can win the whole thing. Edwards, who has yet to win this year, finished 11th and is 11th in the points standings.
Then came the flips. Eight times in all, dangerously barrel-rolling across Dover International Speedway’s concrete track before landing on its side for a brief moment and tipping over to rest on its wheels. Logano’s father ran to the infield care center to check on his son, but the accident looked worse than the final result.
Logano, only 19, was shaken, but otherwise fine.
“It just really scared the heck out of me,” Logano said Sunday. “I haven’t seen a replay yet. I’m not sure I want see a replay. I started rolling and I was like, ‘Damn, please make this thing stop.’ And it wouldn’t. It just kept going and going.”
Logano appeared to get squeezed between Bobby Labonte and his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart. Labonte checked up and No. 96 clipped the No. 20 on the nose. Logano checked up and was tapped from behind by Stewart. That sent Logano sliding up-and-down the track like a yo-yo, collecting Sorenson, Martin Truex Jr. and Robby Gordon.
“Wish I saw that coming,” Stewart said. “Don’t know how to say sorry enough to Joey. I didn’t anticipate it coming, and I drilled right through him.”
Race winner Jimmie Johnson had no idea Logano was in the accident. Like any race fan, he couldn’t wait to go watch a replay.
“That’s exciting,” Johnson said. “I can’t wait to see the clip.”
The race was red-flagged for 23 minutes. All the drivers checked at the infield care center were relieved to hear Logano escaped the wreckage fine.
“It was the wildest ride I’ve ever been on,” Logano said. “You can’t go on a roller coaster any worse than that.”
His car reduced to scrap metal, Logano’s race was done. Labonte finished 23rd, Truex 33rd, and Gordon 34th. Stewart had nothing more than some cosmetic damage on the No. 14 and the Chase driver finished ninth.
“I’m just happy it landed on its wheels,” Logano said. “The good lord was with me on that one.”
STEWART’S COMEBACK: Tony Stewart not only avoided any serious damage in the Joey Logano chain-reaction accident, he came all the way back from 22nd to finish ninth.
Stewart’s No. 14 suffered some minor cosmetic damage, needing a patch on a hole in the front.
“I’m pretty proud of the effort they made to get it right,” Stewart said. “Once they got the hole patched up, it was good.”
A clean race the rest of the way and some swift pit stops maneuvered him up the pack. He also jumped a spot in the Chase standings and is now fifth. But his point deficit jumped from 74 to 106 behind leader Mark Martin.
“I can’t say I’m satisfied because I still lost points,” he said. “That’s how competitive this Chase is. I got a top 10 and I’m not happy with it.”
KENSETH’s FINISH: Matt Kenseth missed the first Chase for the first time since its inception in 2004. He raced at Dover like he was still in contention for a championship.
Kenseth, who won the first two races of the season before falling into a tailspin, finished third. It was his first top-five finish since the second race at Daytona.
Kenseth, the 2003 series champion, said he still comes to the track every week hoping to win. But he realized early in the season he likely wouldn’t be in the 10-driver Chase for the championship field.
“It wasn’t a big surprise to me that we missed the Chase. I saw it coming for three months,” he said. “We haven’t been performing. The whole company hasn’t been performing the way it needs to win a championship. And that’s not being negative or anything. That’s just obvious.”
So obvious that Kenseth isn’t convinced his Roush Fenway Racing teammate and Chase driver Carl Edwards can win the whole thing. Edwards, who has yet to win this year, finished 11th and is 11th in the points standings.
