Joey Logano dominates Bristol Truck Race on Dirt

Joey Logano‘s NASCAR Cup Series spotter Coleman Pressley could not serve in the spot for Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway as he was with Taylor Gray‘s team, so he jokingly asked his team-mate Ryan Blaney to fill in. Sure enough, the move paid off big time.

With Blaney atop the spotter’s stand giving signals, Logano manhandled the field by leading all but twelve laps in the 150-lap race for his second career Truck victory. He also won his heat race.

“I called him up after we got done qualifying [at Atlanta] and said, ‘Would you want to do it?’ And he was all in,” recalled Logano. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, absolutely, but I never really spotted before. I’ve only done it a couple times and the last time I did it the guy wrecked.’ So I’m like, ‘Well, we can’t do much worse.’

“But he did a good job. Obviously, anytime you put a race car driver up there, that’s why a lot of the spotters used to be race car drivers, they understand what you’re looking for as far as speed and honestly Ryan knows what he wants to hear on the radio, which I typically want to hear a lot more than him. I was trying to get him to keep talking more and more, which he was. We had some fun and some good laughs and it all worked out.”

Multiple wrecks resulted in green-flag laps only lasting about seven laps including a multi-car crash that took out defending winner Ben Rhodes with ten laps remaining. Logano faced a challenge from ThorSport Racing team-mate Ty Majeski but easily held him off on the final restart.

Logano attributed much of his success in keeping Majeski at bay to Blaney as “line-wise, he was able to see some things in three and four that as he leader you don’t get to follow anybody and see. Majeski was entering a little bit higher and being able to turn down across the track and he did a good job explaining that to me and was able to adjust that line and that made the difference a lot. He was starting to close the gap on us speed-wise and that kind of made the difference for us.”

William Byron and Chase Briscoe, the only other Cup regulars in the race, respectively finished third and seventh. Briscoe had broken his left middle finger in a dirt track race on Thursday, but intends to race the entire weekend before getting surgery. Jonathan Davenport, another driver doing both the Truck and Cup races, placed fourteenth in his NASCAR début.

Zane Smith won the pole after scoring enough passing points in his heat, but was embroiled in a crash with Chase Purdy and Christian Eckes on lap 97 and settled for twenty-first.

Besides Davenport, other dirt ringers included Tanner Carrick (finished twenty-sixth) and Tyler Carpenter (twenty-ninth). Carpenter struggled throughout the night as he was responsible for three cautions due to spins.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	4	66	Joey Logano*	ThorSport Racing	Ford	150	Running
2	2	98	Ty Majeski	ThorSport Racing	Ford	150	Running
3	14	51	William Byron*	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
4	8	88	Matt Crafton	ThorSport Racing	Ford	150	Running
5	11	23	Grant Enfinger	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
6	26	35	Jake Garcia	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
7	10	22	Chase Briscoe*	AM Racing	Ford	150	Running
8	34	15	Tanner Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	150	Running
9	3	04	Kaden Honeycutt	Roper Racing	Ford	150	Running
10	24	25	Matt DiBenedetto	Rackley WAR	Chevrolet	150	Running
11	15	24	Rajah Caruth	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
12	29	5	Dean Thompson	TRICON Garage	Toyota	150	Running
13	6	13	Hailie Deegan	ThorSport Racing	Ford	150	Running
14	25	7	Jonathan Davenport*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
15	12	11	Corey Heim	TRICON Garage	Toyota	150	Running
16	22	12	Spencer Boyd	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
17	27	42	Carson Hocevar	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	150	Running
18	17	2	Nick Sanchez	Rev Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
19	7	99	Ben Rhodes	ThorSport Racing	Ford	150	Running
20	19	32	Bret Holmes	Bret Holmes Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
21	1	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	150	Running
22	32	43	Daniel Dye	GMS Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
23	5	52	Stewart Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota	150	Running
24	30	6	Norm Benning	Norm Benning Racing	Chevrolet	150	Running
25	28	56	Timmy Hill	Hill Motorsports	Toyota	148	Running
26	31	30	Tanner Carrick	On Point Motorsports	Toyota	147	Running
27	35	9	Colby Howard	CR7 Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
28	16	4	Chase Purdy	Kyle Busch Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
29	33	41	Tyler Carpenter	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet	117	Accident
30	13	19	Christian Eckes	McAnally-Hilgemann Racing	Chevrolet	96	Accident
31	21	75	Parker Kligerman*	Henderson Motorsports	Chevrolet	85	Accident
32	36	02	Kris Wright	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Accident
33	23	16	Tyler Ankrum	Hattori Racing Enterprises	Toyota	25	Accident
34	9	17	Taylor Gray	TRICON Garage	Toyota	8	Accident
35	18	33	Mason Massey	Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford	7	Accident
36	20	20	Stefan Parsons*	Young’s Motorsports	Chevrolet	7	Accident
DNQ		45	Lawless Alan	Niece Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		34	Josh Reaume	Reaume Brothers Racing	Ford
DNQ		62	Jessica Friesen	Halmar Friesen Racing	Toyota
DNQ		46	Jerry Bohlman	G2G Racing	Toyota
DNQ		47	Andrew Gordon*	G2G Racing	Toyota

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points

Heat results

Heat #1

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Laps	Status
1	3	99	Ben Rhodes	15	Running
2	6	13	Hailie Deegan	15	Running
3	2	4	Chase Purdy	15	Running
4	1	20	Stefan Parsons*	15	Running
5	11	17	Taylor Gray	15	Running
6	9	33	Mason Massey	15	Running
7	8	7	Jonathan Davenport*	15	Running
8	5	34	Josh Reaume	15	Running
9	10	45	Lawless Alan	13	Running
10	7	02	Kris Wright	11	Running
11	4	15	Tanner Gray	11	Running

Heat #2

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Laps	Status
1	4	52	Stewart Friesen	15	Running
2	10	38	Zane Smith	15	Running
3	6	22	Chase Briscoe*	15	Running
4	3	75	Parker Kligerman*	15	Running
5	8	19	Christian Eckes	15	Running
6	2	16	Tyler Ankrum	15	Running
7	7	35	Jake Garcia	15	Running
8	9	56	Timmy Hill	15	Running
9	5	62	Jessica Friesen	15	Running
10	1	9	Colby Howard	0	DNS

Heat #3

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Laps	Status
1	5	66	Joey Logano*	15	Running
2	9	98	Ty Majeski	15	Running
3	2	2	Nick Sanchez	15	Running
4	7	11	Corey Heim	15	Running
5	8	51	William Byron*	15	Running
6	1	25	Matt DiBenedetto	15	Running
7	3	5	Dean Thompson	15	Running
8	4	43	Daniel Dye	15	Running
9	10	30	Tanner Carrick	13	DNF
10	6	46	Jerry Bohlman	11	DNS

Heat #4

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Laps	Status
1	3	88	Matt Crafton	15	Running
2	2	24	Rajah Caruth	15	Running
3	10	04	Kaden Honeycutt	15	Running
4	7	23	Grant Enfinger	15	Running
5	5	12	Spencer Boyd	15	Running
6	8	32	Bret Holmes	15	Running
7	6	42	Carson Hocevar	15	Running
8	9	6	Norm Benning	15	Running
9	4	41	Tyler Carpenter	15	Running
10	1	47	Andrew Gordon*	14	Running

Points earned

Position	Number	Driver	Total Points
1	38	Zane Smith	17
2	98	Ty Majeski	16
3	4	Kaden Honeycutt	15
4	66	Joey Logano*	14
5	52	Stewart Friesen	13
6	13	Hailie Deegan	13
7	99	Ben Rhodes	12
8	88	Matt Crafton	12
9	17	Taylor Gray	12
10	22	Chase Briscoe*	11
11	23	Grant Enfinger	10
12	11	Corey Heim	10
13	19	Christian Eckes	9
14	51	William Byron*	9
15	24	Rajah Caruth	9
16	4	Chase Purdy	8
17	2	Nick Sanchez	8
18	33	Mason Massey	8
19	32	Bret Holmes	7
20	20	Stefan Parsons*	7
21	75	Parker Kligerman*	7
22	12	Spencer Boyd	6
23	16	Tyler Ankrum	5
24	25	Matt DiBenedetto	5
25	7	Jonathan Davenport*	5
26	35	Jake Garcia	4
27	42	Carson Hocevar	4
28	56	Timmy Hill	4
29	5	Dean Thompson	4
30	6	Norm Benning	4
31	30	Tanner Carrick	3
32	43	Daniel Dye	3
33	41	Tyler Carpenter	2
34	15	Tanner Gray	1
35	9	Colby Howard	1
36	2	Kris Wright	0
DNQ	34	Josh Reaume	4
DNQ	45	Lawless Alan	3
DNQ	62	Jessica Friesen	2
DNQ	46	Jerry Bohlman	1
DNQ	47	Andrew Gordon	1

1 point per position gained