Logano wins Nashville Nationwide

The 18-year-old has had a difficult start to his first season in the Sprint Cup, but fought for the lead throughout today's Nationwide event and ultimately clinched his second victory in the series.

Logano battled with pole-sitter Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Ford) early on, passing the former champion and edging away as the opening stint progressed. He lost ground during the first pitstops, but remained the fastest car on track, reclaiming the lead from team-mate Busch immediately after the second caution period.

Busch returned the favour just after the next yellow, setting up a race-long battle between the Gibbs Toyota duo.

Meanwhile Edwards fell out of contention after half-distance, when he made an additional pitstop to check on a loose wheel - having pulled away from an earlier stop before the crew had finished tightening his left front. The precautionary pit visit to attend to this dropped Edwards back to 22nd.

The Gibbs drivers continued to exchange the lead as a series of midfield incidents brought out regular yellows. The crucial pass came with 11 laps to go, as Logano slipped past Busch for first position just before a multi-car accident triggered by Ricky Stenhouse Jr slewing into Joe Nemechek and pitching the latter into a roll.

NASCAR elected to halt the race so that the debris could be completely cleared and to give the drivers a clear green flag run to the finish. Logano duly kept Busch under control throughout the decisive five-lap shoot-out and secured his first win since last summer.

"The car was good from the start, the crew is awesome and it's been too long that we've been waiting for this win," said Logano.

"It's big for me, it's an awesome confidence booster for sure. Looking and saying, 'Hey, I can do this, I am here for a reason, I can win races.' That's big just to reassure yourself of that."

Busch picked up some damage on his Toyota in a restart brush with Michael McDowell - who had briefly led after choosing not to change tyres at the final stops - but felt the main reason for his defeat was that Logano simply had a faster package.

"Joey had a better car at the beginning of the run, and we just didn't have it today," said Busch.

Brad Keselowski completed the top three, having run with the lead pack throughout, with Kelly Bires fending off the recovering Edwards to earn both fourth place and the 2008 runner-up's respect.

"I had a great race with Kelly Bires at the end," said Edwards. "If that guy doesn't get a full-time ride, I don't know who deserves to. He does, that's for sure."

Pos  Driver              Car       Laps
 1.  Joey Logano         Toyota     225
 2.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     225
 3.  Brad Keselowski     Chevrolet  225
 4.  Kelly Bires         Chevrolet  225
 5.  Carl Edwards        Ford       225
 6.  Jason Leffler       Toyota     225
 7.  David Ragan         Ford       225
 8.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet  225
 9.  Steve Wallace       Chevrolet  225
10.  Scott Lagasse Jr    Toyota     225
11.  Stephen Leicht      Chevrolet  225
12.  Jason Keller        Ford       225
13.  Burney Lamar        Toyota     225
14.  Shelby Howard       Chevrolet  225
15.  Michael McDowell    Toyota     225
16.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota     225
17.  Brendan Gaughan     Chevrolet  225
18.  John Wes Townley    Ford       225
19.  Michael Annett      Toyota     225
20.  Dennis Setzer       Dodge      225
21.  Jeff Green          Dodge      225
22.  Casey Atwood        Chevrolet  225
23.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Ford       223
24.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet  223
25.  Brian Scott         Toyota     223
26.  Eric McClure        Ford       223
27.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet  223
28.  Scott Wimmer        Chevrolet  222
29.  Justin Allgaier     Dodge      222
30.  Brandon Whitt       Ford       222
31.  Morgan Shepherd     Chevrolet  221
32.  Danny O'Quinn Jr    Chevrolet  221
33.  Tim Andrews         Chevrolet  220
34.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  218
35.  Kenny Hendrick      Dodge      194
36.  Benny Gordon        Ford       157
37.  Ken Butler III      Chevrolet  145
38.  David Green         Toyota     144
39.  Jeremy Clements     Chevrolet  132
40.  Kertus Davis        Chevrolet  46
41.  Brian Keselowski    Dodge      32
42.  Terry Cook          Chevrolet  20
43.  Johnny Chapman      Chevrolet  15