NASCAR’s Joey Lagano obviously has the Tennessee Bullring dialed in.
Saturday night, Lagano won the IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway for the second straight year, leading 176 laps and holding off a late charge by Kevin Harvick on his way to picking up his third win of the season.
“It was kind of interesting to watch it in the mirror,” Lagano said after the victory. “I was watching him (Harvick) drive in and I was like, ‘he’s going to get me, eventually’…..so I just wanted to make sure I stayed at least 3 or 4 car lengths up on him so he didn’t get to
me.” That strategy worked.
It was Lagano’s 11th career Sprint Cup Series win, including this year’s Daytona 500 in February and this month’s road course win at Watkins Glen.
Denny Hamlin finished third, Jimmie Johnson fourth, with Clint Bowyer rounding out the top five.
Six through ten included Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr.and Ryan Newman. Busch led a race-high 192 laps.
Harvick, who has had eight second-place finishes since winning in March at Phoenix, was hampered by two pit-road penalties. His crew went over the wall too quickly on lap 128 and he was penalized on lap 362 for speeding through pit road. In the final laps Harvick recovered to get to Lagano’s rear bumper several times, but could never find a line to get by the winner.
With a packed house looking on in The Last Great Colosseum, Jeff Gordon was making his final appearance in Bristol before his announced retirement at the end of the season. Gordon was running in second with slightly more than 100 laps to go when he was forced to pit with a loose wheel. On the Bristol track, where a green flag lap takes approximately 15 seconds, Gordon was lapped while his crew changed tires, ending his shot at a Chase-clinching win. Gordon finished 20th.
Two races remain before the field is set for The Chase. The NASCAR Sprint Cup series will take a week off this coming weekend before resuming The Chase on Sunday, September 6th for the Bojangles Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Bill Turner
