Joey Logano holds off Penske teammate Brad Keselowski for Bristol win (VIDEO)

By Aug 23, 2014, 10:47 PM EDT
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For a while, it looked like a 13th different Sprint Cup driver would lock in a Chase berth with a victory tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway.

But instead, Joey Logano entered the 3-Win Club in the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Logano took the lead with 45 laps to go and saw off a last-lap challenge from Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski to win the Irwin Tools Night Race – becoming the fifth different driver to win three races this year (Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr.).

Following a restart with 63 laps left, Logano quickly moved into the Top 5 and then dispatched Carl Edwards for second place before setting his sights on the winless Matt Kenseth.

After an extended period of working the inside line, Logano finally made it stick with 45 to go when he slid up in front of Kenseth to claim the lead.

But Logano still had to out-hustle former Cup champion Keselowski, who went in deep on the inside of Logano in Turns 3 and 4 on the last lap.

It was an admirable last-ditch effort, but Logano held firm and motored by on the high line to take his first career win at NASCAR’s most infamous half mile.

“I wasn’t sure when I woke up this morning if we had a winning car or not,” Logano said to ESPN in Victory Lane. “[Crew chief] Tod Gordon is a good salesman – he pretty much sold me into thinking I had a winning car and made some small adjustments with it all night, and we got our third win of the year.

“…This is like one of the three biggest races of the year – the Bristol night race. And to have this in the record books with your name on it, it’s just really, really cool.”

For Logano, the win seemed to come down to knowing when and when not to use patience. Off of the restart with 63 to go, Logano rocketed from the sixth position to second in the span of just a few laps.

But when he finally got near Kenseth, he didn’t push the issue immediately, instead waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike.

“On the restart when we were sixth, I said ‘I’ve got to capitalize right now,'” said Logano. “So I went as hard as I could, raced the 20 [Kenseth] really hard…I was trying to keep up with him for a while. The 20 was really fast.”

After Logano finally assumed the lead, it appeared the race was pretty much done. But with just a few laps left, he sensed something amiss with his No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford.

“I don’t know if it was brakes or a hub failing in the rear, but it started vibrating really bad, getting really loose,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Ugh, hold on, a couple more laps, couple more laps!’

“Of course, there’s always added drama at the end that you don’t want…I was just able to make it there at the end.”

As for Kenseth, he eventually settled for third position ahead of fourth-place Jimmie Johnson and fifth-place Kurt Busch.

However, Kenseth continued to solidify his hold on a Chase Grid position, extending his cushion over 17th place to a sizable 83 points.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bristol spring race winner Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, and Greg Biffle rounded out the Top 10.

McMurray, who pretty much needs a win to make the post-season, led a race-high 148 laps. But after pitting for four fresh tires under a caution with less than 70 laps to go, he took the restart in fifth and couldn’t recover the lost track position.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AT BRISTOL – Irwin Tools Night Race
Unofficial Results
1. 22-Joey Logano, led 76 laps
2. 2-Brad Keselowski, led 46 laps
3. 20-Matt Kenseth, led 62 laps
4. 48-Jimmie Johnson
5. 41-Kurt Busch
6. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
7. 99-Carl Edwards
8. 1-Jamie McMurray, led 148 laps
9. 27-Paul Menard
10. 16-Greg Biffle
11. 4-Kevin Harvick, led 75 laps
12. 42-Kyle Larson
13. 31-Ryan Newman
14. 47-AJ Allmendinger
ONE LAP DOWN
15. 14-Jeff Burton
16. 24-Jeff Gordon, led 17 laps
TWO LAPS DOWN
17. 15-Clint Bowyer
18. 95-Michael McDowell
THREE LAPS DOWN
19. 51-Justin Allgaier
20. 78-Martin Truex Jr.
21. 55-Brian Vickers
22. 40-Landon Cassill
FOUR LAPS DOWN
23. 34-David Ragan
24. 36-Reed Sorenson
FIVE LAPS DOWN
25. 38-David Gilliland
26. 13-Casey Mears
SEVEN LAPS DOWN
27. 10-Danica Patrick
28. 3-Austin Dillon
EIGHT LAPS DOWN
29. 98-Josh Wise
30. 26-Cole Whitt
NINE LAPS DOWN
31. 33-David Stremme
—
32. 23-Alex Bowman, Lap 489
33. 32-JJ Yeley, Lap 489
34. 9-Marcos Ambrose, Lap 480
35. 5-Kasey Kahne, Lap 477, led 40 laps
36. 18-Kyle Busch, Lap 442, Accident, led 8 laps
37. 83-Ryan Truex, Lap 338, Engine
38. 7-Michael Annett, Lap 243, Accident
39. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., Lap 176, Accident
40. 11-Denny Hamlin, led 28 laps, Lap 160 Accident
41. 43-Aric Almirola, Lap 123, Accident
42. 66-Brett Moffitt, Lap 78, Engine
43. 37-Dave Blaney, Lap 37, Overheating

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”