Joey Logano won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, the Roseanne 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Logano led 139 of the race’s 150 laps en route to his first Xfinity Series victory of the season, the 29th of his career. So far this season, Cup drivers have won four out of the five Xfinity Series races.
Christopher Bell lead the 40-car field to the green flag and he was able to clear second place starter Logano before getting to turn 1 to establish an early lead. Bell didn’t get too far away from Logano though as the 22 Ford took the lead on the fifth lap of the 35-lap stage. Bell would fade fast after losing the lead, eventually falling to sixth place after getting into the wall. Farther back in the field at the start was Tyler Reddick; despite rolling off 16th Reddick passed 10 cars within the race’s first couple of laps. He would run as high as third before finishing fifth in stage 1. The caution flag flew with 4 laps to go in stage 1 as a result of Matt Mills getting into the wall in turn 2. This caution would end stage 1 with Logano taking the stage victory.
Logano would retain the lead following the first round of pit stops and continue to show the way in stage 2. Tyler Reddick continued to flex his muscle as he battled hard with Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, and Christopher Bell for the second position. Reddick would secure the spot and in the last 10 laps of stage 2 he would chop Logano’s lead down significantly before ultimately finishing second in the stage. Just like stage 1 the second stage would end prematurely with a caution flag. John Hunter Nemechek was complaining about a vibration in the front end of his 42 Camaro for much of stage 2 and with two laps to go he shredded his right front tire on the front stretch bringing out the yellow.
Logano once again jumped out to a healthy lead as the race’s final 80 lap stage went green. Bell and Reddick fought for the second position early in the stage with Reddick ultimately securing the spot. Bell, who was riding in third, got loose off of turn 4 and went for a solo spin in the grass with 53 to go bringing out the third caution. Cautions often breed more cautions and that was the case on Saturday as the spin by Bell was quickly followed by a crash between Bell and Michael Annett with 46 to go. The green flag wasn’t out long following this accident when Dylan Lupton lost his motor on lap 109.
This caution setup an interesting scenario as all the teams debated whether or not to pit. As what often happens in these situations, everyone does the opposite of the leader. Sure enough Logano stayed out and almost every other lead lap car, with the exception of Brandon Jones, dove down pit road for fresh Goodyears. Allgaier was the first car with fresh tires on the restart in the third position and it seemed he would make quick work of Logano and take the lead. That didn’t happen. Allgaier pressured the 22 heavily for the top spot but couldn’t make the move. A debris caution with 30 to go played perfectly into Logano’s hands.
All the drivers who pitted on the previous caution elected not to come in again as they didn’t want to use their last set of tires. Logano, by not pitting prior, had an extra set to spare and surrendered his lead to pit. Logano restarted 16th but wasted no time getting to the front as he passed leader Elliott Sadler with 23 laps to go.
The caution flew one final time on lap 138 due to debris and everyone hit the pits to put on their final set of tires, everyone except Ryan Sieg. Sieg restarted first with eight laps remaining but was quickly swallowed by the field on fresh tires and Logano scooted away for the victory. Kaz Grala crashed coming across the finish line while fighting for a top 15 finish.
Results for the Roseanne 300 at Auto Club Speedway
1. Joey Logano
2. Justin Allgaier
3. Elliott Sadler
4. Austin Dillon
5. Daniel Hemric
6. Cole Custer
7. Tyler Reddick
8. Matt Tifft
9. Ryan Preece
10. Ross Chastain
11. Spencer Gallagher
12. Ryan Truex
13. Brandon Jones
14. Kaz Grala
15. Jeremy Clements
16. Joey Gase
17. Ryan Reed
18. Michael Annett
19. Alex Labbe
20. Ryan Sieg
21. Christopher Bell
22. BJ McLeod
23. Garrett Smithley
24. Tommy Joe Martins
25. Josh Williams
26. David Starr
27. Vinnie Miller
28. Austin Cindric
29. John Hunter Nemechek
30. Spencer Boyd
31. Stephen Leicht (Brakes)
32. Josh Bilicki (Engine)
33. Dylan Lupton (Engine)
34. JJ Yeley (Power Steering)
35. Timmy Hill (Vibration)
36. Chad Finchum (Engine)
37. Matt Mills (Crash)
38. Morgan Shepherd (Suspension)
39. Jeff Green (Brakes)
40. Mike Harmon (Engine)
