Penske Racing drivers turned in a stealthy but impressive finish in the Camping World 400 at Chicagoland Speedway – all three drivers finishing among the top six.
Joey Logano rallied to a third-place finish in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford and was joined by teammate Brad Keselowski, who placed fifth and Ryan Blaney, who took sixth.
Blaney was the only one among the trio to lead a lap (one) and that was more noteworthy considering he went a lap down early in the race after his car suffered a tire problem.
While Keselowski scored stage points with a second-place run in the opening stage, none of the team cars scored any points in Stage 2 of the race – important to note considering the late-race work of all three.
Logano’s third-place showing was his seventh top-10 finish in 11 Chicagoland races. His performance, combined with Kyle Busch’s 22nd-place run, increased his standings lead over Busch to 18 points.
“In one word, it was a “battle” out there,’’ Logano said. “The restarts were insane, three, four-wide and cars were all over the place.
“Great recovery,’’ Logano said of the team’s finish. “We didn’t score any stage points. We were running 12th or 13th most of the race and then we got the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang quite a bit better to get a top-three. I’s hard to say I’m happy with that, but all things considered, we’ll take it.’’
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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