Logano holds off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Busch for Nationwide win at Kansas

Logano holds off Busch to win Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Joey Logano has plenty of experience racing teammate Kyle Busch for wins.

He’s also had his fill of losing races to Busch.

Given another chance Saturday to knock off his teammate, Logano got aggressive on a late restart to get past Busch, then used a push from Brad Keselowski to hold on at Kansas Speedway for his second Nationwide Series win of the season.

It was the 16th Nationwide victory this season for Joe Gibbs Racing, and gave Toyota the manufacturers title for the third consecutive year.

Busch, who led a race-high 64 laps while chasing his 12th Nationwide win of the year, faded to third behind Logano and Keselowski.

It appeared Mike Wallace, who used fuel strategy to grab the lead late, maybe would steal the win. But a caution for Trevor Bayne’s spin forced him to surrender the lead to pit for gas, and Busch and Logano slid into the top two positions.

Logano ran Busch high up the track on the restart with six laps to go and darted past his teammate for the lead. But a wreck by Aric Almirola moments later brought out another caution, and Logano fretted about potential payback from Busch on the final restart.

It never came into play as points leader Keselowski, who was lined up behind Logano, gave a huge push to help Logano clear Busch. Keselowski said later he was paying Logano back for giving him similar help in a win at Talladega.

“He helped me out a lot, which was perfect because I pushed him to a couple wins,” Logano said. “So it was nice of him to push me once. Me and Brad have been getting along great lately, which is awesome. It was cool to see him behind me and able to help me out.”

Busch, who was livid over his team radio after Logano ran him high to take the lead, was far more reserved after the race.

“When Brad pushed him on the final restart, I knew there was nothing I could do,” Busch shrugged.

In all, it was a bizarre day for Busch, who spun out by himself while leading midway through the race.

Logano has six second-place finishes this season, and lost to Busch in three of them, including last week at Dover.

“Every time you finish second, it seems that wall is a little higher, and it’s cool to get over it,” Logano said. “It definitely gets frustrating when you feel like you should have won a lot more races. That also makes you want it a little more and makes it a little sweeter when you do win.”

Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished sixth to take the lead in the rookie of the year standings, and Justin Allgaier was seventh. Paul Menard, Brendan Gaughan and Jason Leffler rounded out the top 10.