It was a lucky day for Joey Logano as he has been saying that the New Hampshire race track is his home track. True to his words, he was confident and comfortable racing through the tracks, thus it is no wonder that he led and won the race.
According to Logano, the New Hampshire race track is his version of Daytona. But his win in New Hampshire does not only mean a fulfillment of a childhood dream, it could also mean as a ticket to his first NASCAR Championship.
He said "I watched my first Cup race here when I was 5. . This means so much. ... We know what we gotta do to win this thing right now. o me, it's my home track. ... I went to sleep last night hoping for a top 5."
Now that Longano has won, Team Penske has two entries to the Chase.
Logano said "We're doing what we've got to do to win this thing right now."
He added of his team "Confidence is high through the 22 team right now, all of Team Penske. All of Team Penske. We feel like we've got some championships to win, not only on the Cup side, but Nationwide side. And you've got IndyCar. We're just trying to catch up to them."
Logano and teammate Brad Keselowski, who won the Chase opener at Chicagoland, have both advanced to the next round.
He took the lead from Kevin Harvick with 27 laps left and went on to his seventh career Cup victory. Kyle Larson finished second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson. Aric Almirola, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers rounded out the top 10.
Logano said "'I didn't know where Victory Lane was, actually. I just didn't want to come in. I want to stay out. I never got out in front of all the fans on the front straightaway before. It was just too cool."
On the other hand, Denny Hamlin was one of the numerous drivers who had a bad day during the race. Many had faced mechanical failures, mistakes and other issues which caused them to fall short.
According to Hamlin "It's so frustrating because you know on performance you deserve to (advance). We would have a great shot to move on and really make some noise here in these last eight races. In these three-race (segments), you just can't have one bad week."
