Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

June 16, 2012

Joey Logano made it four wins out of the last five races with his victory in the Alliance Truck Parts 250 at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday afternoon. The win was Logano’s 14th in 99 Nationwide Series starts and his fifth of the season.

The trip to Victory Lane was his first at Michigan International Speedway and the first Nationwide Series win for Toyota at the track.

The car Logano raced on Saturday was the same one that he took to Victory Lane at Fontana.

James Buescher was the runner-up behind Logano for his fifth consecutive top-10 finish of the 2012 season. Buescher had one last shot at Logano on the final restart, but was unable to make the pass underneath him on the final lap. Buescher admitted after the race that his car was not as fast as the No. 18, but he was still going to give it a shot.
Kurt Busch, making his return from probation this weekend, had a strong car throughout the race, but fell just shy of challenging for the win at the end. Busch recovered from early damage to his No. 54 Monster Energy Drink when Danica Patrick spun on lap one. Busch’s car was much stronger on the long green-flag runs, but two late cautions hurt his chances of going for the win.

Two strong performances from rookie drivers Cole Whitt and Austin Dillon, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Dillon rebounded from a unscheduled green-flag pitstop early when he reported a possible loose right wheel. After inspecting the tires removed from the No. 3, there were signs of blisters on his tires.

Kenny Wallace started 10th in the No. 99 Family Farmers Toyota, but he was forced to the garage when the competition caution came out on Lap 25. Wallace had been reporting engine problems prior to heading to the garage to isolate the problem. The crew was able to get Wallace back in the race, but just a few laps later the engine blew ending his race day.

Danica Patrick had an up-and-down afternoon after starting from the fifth position, but ultimately finished in 18th. Patrick had problems on Lap 1 when her car got loose in Turn 4, but she was able to avoid any significant damage. A statistics Patrick will not be happy with is the fact she was involved in three of the seven caution in the race.

Elliott Sadler finished in 11th, good enough to keep him as the leader in the point standings. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who came into the race second in the standings, had a miserable day and finished a disappointing 25th. Stenhouse dropped to third in the standings with his performance. Sadler now leads teammate Austin Dillon by just eight points in the driver standings.

NASCAR red-flagged the race on Lap 119 after the cars of Josh Richards and Jamie Dick wrecked in Turn 3. Dick’s car caught fire, but both drivers escaped. So did Richards’ car,which rolled driverless down the banking and came to a stop in the infield grass.

Johanna Long had her best finish in the Nationwide Series with a strong 16th place finish. Long ran 81 laps in the top-15 in Saturday’s race and even cracked the top-10 at one point.

Results of the Alliance Truck Parts 250 at MIS:

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Pts	Bpts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	3	18	Joey Logano(i)	Dollar General Toyota	125	0		RUNNING	2	31
2	4	30	James Buescher(i)	Amway/Gaddes Foundation Chevrolet	125	0		RUNNING	1	2
3	15	54	Kurt Busch(i)	Monster Energy Toyota	125	0		RUNNING
4	2	88	Cole Whitt #	Clean Coal Chevrolet	125	41	1	RUNNING	2	10
5	1	3	Austin Dillon #	Advocare Chevrolet	125	40	1	RUNNING	2	11
6	11	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Alliance Truck Parts Dodge	125	39	1	RUNNING	2	25
7	13	20	Michael McDowell(i)	Pizza Ranch Toyota	125	0		RUNNING
8	7	33	Paul Menard(i)	Menards/Rheem Chevrolet	125	0		RUNNING	2	37
9	17	11	Brian Scott	Dollar General Toyota	125	35		RUNNING
10	9	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Discount Tire Dodge	125	0		RUNNING
11	6	2	Elliott Sadler	OneMain Financial Chevrolet	125	34	1	RUNNING	1	3
12	18	43	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Ford	125	32		RUNNING
13	16	44	Mike Bliss	Bandit Chippers Toyota	125	31		RUNNING
14	8	31	Justin Allgaier	Brandt Chevrolet	125	31	1	RUNNING	1	4
15	23	87	Joe Nemechek	AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota	125	29		RUNNING
16	14	70	Johanna Long #	Foretravel Chevrolet	125	28		RUNNING
17	22	14	Jeff Green	Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota	125	27		RUNNING
18	5	7	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy.com/KickstartAmerica.US Chevrolet	125	27	1	RUNNING	1	1
19	19	81	Jason Bowles #	American Majority Toyota	124	25		RUNNING
20	30	01	Mike Wallace	Tradebank/Carl Ent Chevrolet	124	24		RUNNING
21	28	19	Tayler Malsam	G-Oil/Ryobi Toyota	124	23		RUNNING
22	27	40	Erik Darnell	TheMotorsportsGroup.com Chevrolet	124	22		RUNNING
23	36	08	Tony Raines(i)	Black Cat Fireworks Ford	124	0		RUNNING
24	12	38	Brad Sweet #	Great Clips Chevrolet	123	20		RUNNING
25	20	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush-Fenway Racing Ford	123	19		RUNNING
26	32	41	Timmy Hill	Poynt.com Ford	123	18		RUNNING
27	33	4	Danny Efland	TradeBank Chevrolet	122	17		RUNNING
28	37	24	Angela Cope	Dillon Manufacturing/United Mobile Auctions Chevrolet	119	16		RUNNING
29	21	23	Jamie Dick	Viva Auto Group Chevrolet	116	15		Accident
30	24	39	Josh Richards	NSW Kids Ford	116	14		Accident
31	31	51	Jeremy Clements	Diamond Pistons Chevrolet	76	14	1	Engine	1	1
32	35	50	TJ Bell	Hantz Bank/Gulf Coast loss Prevention Chevrolet	56	12		Engine
33	39	89	Morgan Shepherd	MorganSheperd.com Chevrolet	42	11		Handling
34	10	99	Kenny Wallace	Family Farmers Toyota	32	10		Engine
35	42	52	Tim Schendel	Victory Precision Valves Chevrolet	15	9		Overheating
36	34	15	Blake Koch	RWR Chevrolet	12	8		Vibration
37	38	75	Scott Riggs(i)	RWR Chevrolet	11	0		Engine
38	29	46	Chase Miller	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	9	6		Overheating
39	26	42	Josh Wise(i)	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	8	0		Engine
40	41	71	Michael Guerity	RWR Chevrolet	6	4		Vibration
41	40	47	Matt DiBenedetto	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	5	3		Vibration
42	25	10	Kevin Lepage	TriStar Motorsports Toyota	4	2		Vibration
43	43	74	Mike Harmon	Koma Unwind Chevrolet	1	1		Vibration