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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
Joey Logano held on for a historic victory Monday in the first NASCAR Cup Series gravel race since 1970, retiring to overtime at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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Logano led 61 of 253 laps in the Food City Dirt Race, leading his # 22 Ford Team Penske to a 0.554 second margin of victory at the checkered flag. His first win of the season was his third in Bristol and the 27th of his Cup Series career.
Logano’s victory extended the streak of the series, making seven different winners in seven races to start the season.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished second in the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet, just ahead of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Daniel Suarez clinched fourth place in the best performance for the new Trackhouse Racing Team with Ryan Newman completing the top five.
Truex, who took his first Camping World Truck Series victory on the land of Bristol, won the first stage and led a record 126 laps before clinching a 19th place with a flat tire in overtime. He gave way to Suarez on lap 135, who held the point for the next 58 laps until Logano took the lead to win Stage 2. Logano remained in the lead for the remainder of the course, leading the 61 last laps.
The race was slowed down by a handful of multi-car wrecks that thinned the field of contenders. A crash on lap 51 put dirt track specialists Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell out of the race for the early victory. Bell lost control of his # 20 Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing in the high line, picking up Larson’s # 5 Chevrolet Hendrick Motorsports and Ross Chastain’s # 42 Chevy Chip Ganassi Racing in its wake.
MORE: Bell, Larson Get Tangled Up Early
Bell and Chastain were sidelined, and Larson continued on pace with a damaged car.
The NASCAR Cup Series will be inactive next weekend for the Easter break and will return to action on April 10 at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
This article will be updated.
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