NASCAR Xfinity Series

Joey Logano cruises to NASCAR Xfinity victory at Fontana

Published Mar. 17, 2018 8:05 p.m. ET

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) Joey Logano cruised to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season on Saturday, outpacing Justin Allgaier at Fontana.

Logano pushed his Team Penske Ford to his 29th career Xfinity victory and his third at Auto Club Speedway. The dominant win also was the first Xfinity victory at Auto Club Speedway for the team backed by Roger Penske, who spearheaded the construction of this 21-year-old track east of Los Angeles.

''That car was so good,'' Logano said. ''It was one of those races where you're relieved when you win. You're supposed to win when you've got a car that fast.''

A series of cautions led to a choppy race governed by tire quality and restarts, but Logano was in command of almost every big moment.

Logano took the lead on the fifth lap and won the first two stages, never even relinquishing his lead until late, when he fell behind Elliott Sadler out of a restart. Logano moved up from 16th and reclaimed the lead in a mere three-lap stretch, and he jumped in front again with a beautiful restart after the final caution with eight laps to go.

''Hats off to Joey,'' Allgaier said. ''Man, they had the dominant car today.''

Logano hadn't been to Victory Lane since the Cup race in Richmond last spring. Fourth-place finisher Austin Dillon was the only other Cup regular in the field of a race that hasn't been won by an Xfinity Series regular since 2002, and Logano made sure that streak continued.

Pole sitter Christopher Bell rallied to finish third. Daniel Hemric was fifth, and Cole Custer was sixth while racing roughly 50 miles north of his hometown, Ladera Ranch, California.

Kaz Grala finished 14th, but the teenager wrecked spectacularly while crossing the finish line.

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More AP auto racing: https://racing.ap.org

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