Lap 155 proves catastrophic for Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick at Charlotte
A year ago, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick finished 1-2 in the Bank of America 500 to set themselves up nicely after the first race in the second round of NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs.
What a difference a year makes -- and not in a good way for either of those 2016 repeat Chase participants.
Both the No. 22 Team Penske Ford of Logano and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet of Harvick were behind the wall in the Sprint Cup garage before Sunday’s latest rain-delayed Bank of America 500 was halfway over.
Both cars encountered serious trouble at virtually the same time on Lap 155.
Logano, who had had a tire go down earlier and hit the wall coming into Turn 1 on Lap 117, had another tire go down and hit the outside wall harder. He had climbed his way back up to 16th at the time, but this time his car was too heavily damaged and had to go to the garage for major repairs.
“The first one was a left-front and the second on was a right-front. Once you hit the wall once, it can throw everything off … It’s just not the right time of the year for it,” Logano said.
Meanwhile, at almost exactly the same time on the same lap, Harvick had to bring his car to pit road under green when he lost power as the result of an apparent electrical issue that his team could not immediately identify.
For both drivers, the ensuing results were major blows to their chances of advancing past the second round of the Chase -- unless they are able to win one of the next two races at Kansas and Talladega.
