Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney (12) and Joey Logano on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway. (NASCAR photo)
MOORESVILLE, NC — Joey Logano won the inaugural Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway last year and his team Penske crew clinched third at Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at the 1.25-mile raceway in Madison, Illinois Place.
“I’m proud of the fight. “We were mediocre – just outside the top five all day,” said the reigning Cup Series champion. “There was a group of cars that were a tad better than us. Then we ended up executing and beating some of them. We tried some new things from last year and learned some lessons. But overall: good. We needed a solid run. We’ve been through hell here lately. So it’s nice to get a top five, a third and some points in every stage. Good day.”
• Logano’s Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney led 83 laps and finished sixth at Gateway, extending his Cup Series standings lead to 13 points over William Byron.
“Yeah, we ran pretty well today. Won stage two which was good, second in stage one. I just lost position on the track, lost the lead,” explained the Coca-Cola 600 winner. “After a few stops and restarts, we just couldn’t get it back. I thought #8 (Kyle Busch), #11 (Denny Hamlin) and I were similar. It just mattered who was in front. In the end I got a bad restart and dropped back to sixth place. But overall it wasn’t a bad day. It was also a good points day and we will continue.”
Austin Cindric placed 13th in the third team Penske effort.
Kyle Larson (5) battles Alex Bowman at World Wide Technology Raceway. (NASCAR photo)
Larson is fourth
After struggling for most of the weekend, Kyle Larson and the Hendrick Motorspots team rallied in the second half of the race to finish fourth.
“I want to be upset about fourth place after I finished second there in the latter part of the race and had a chance to line up for a green and white checkered front row spot,” said Larson. “Most of the day I thought I was going to finish 20th. A big thank you to Cliff Daniels (Crew Chief) and everyone on the Chevy Team #5 from HendrickCars.com for making the right adjustments. I don’t know if we were still great but the strategic decisions were perfect and timely and the late bookings were timely. I think the car would have been fine if we had only done the last 50 laps on green.”
• Carson Hocevar’s NASCAR Cup Series debut with Spire Motorsports ended with a broken brake rotor during stage two.
“I thought it was great. I had a lovely time. I’m just so grateful for the opportunity. “I don’t have a job for next year,” Hocevar said. “I know Al Niece and Cody Efaw want me to work for them (in the Truck Series) and I’ll forever run a race or however many, but man I’m just so grateful they gave me the opportunity – the opportunity to drive an Xfinity car and now driving a cup car. I was 16. It’s so surreal for the first time ever. I thought we were going to have a good day and for Schluter Systems, Celsius, Spire Motorsports, Ryan Sparks and the No. 7 Chevy team in be in a good position. Hopefully this call for a cup ride isn’t the only one I’ll get in my life.”
• Daniel Suarez finished seventh at Gateway, a needed boost for his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing campaign.
“It was fun today and we really needed that as a team,” said Suarez. “We needed a result that we deserved and I felt like we’ve been struggling a little lately to achieve that. Today I felt like we deserved a place in the top 10 or top 5 and we came home seventh so we’ll do it.”
• Denny Hamlin’s next Cup Series win will be his 50th.
Truex overcomes adversity
• Martin Truex Jr. finished fifth on Sunday despite encountering more than a few adversities in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“I started the race at the front and stayed there until the first stage and thought we could do a little bit better and maybe have a shot at the pair, three ahead,” Truex said. “We got a pit lane penalty and had to move backwards and it was all uphill from there. It’s really difficult to get through the field.
“We sustained some damage when someone’s brake rotor exploded, slowing us down even more. After everything we’ve been through today, a top five finish is a really good day for us. I’m proud of the achievement.”
• Corey LaJoie finished 21st, driving the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet as a replacement for Chase Elliott, who was suspended from the event.
• Twenty-eight cars finished on the lead lap after 243 laps of the 1.25 mile circuit.
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