Joey Logano takes advantage of last-lap wreck to win Clash
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A largely uneventful Advance Auto Parts Clash at Daytona came to life in the closing stages, with Team Penske’s Joey Logano taking the win after Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin crashed while disputing the lead on the final lap.
Penske teammates Keselowski and Logano had fresher tires on their Fords in comparison to those on Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, allowing Keselowski to make an aggressive move to the inside of Turn 1 just after taking the white flag. Hamlin turned down to block, but he veered too late, causing the cars to tangle and spin toward the apron.
Logano darted to the outside to clear the unfolding wreck, followed by Kyle Busch (JGR Toyota) and Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet). Busch thought he had a shot at battling Logano for the win, but side-to-side contact with Bowman prevented him from making a charge.
“The Toyotas are so selfless; they do such a good job working together and think of one car winning,” said Logano. “We had to think the same way as Ford and with the Stewart-Haas and Penske cars. We were able to get a good enough run to work together enough to break them up and make the passes, and then there at the end it was kind of a mess.
“I could see the block was coming way too late and it wasn’t going to work,” he added. “It was pretty plain what was going to happen — I knew they were going to crash — so I just headed to the top. Everything was going on and I was just in the right place at the right time.”
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