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Joey Logano wins the NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300 in Las Vegas

By Nick Tylwalk

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Kyle Busch, driver of the
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 10: Kyle Busch, driver of the /
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For the second straight week, Cup Series regulars took command and led almost all the laps in the XFINITY Series race in Las Vegas.

It’s possible for the NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers to claim victories even when a number of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers are in the same field. Ryan Reed proved that in the season opener at Daytona.

That task is just a lot harder when the unpredictability of restrictor plate racing is taken out of the equation, and the Boyd Gaming 300 was more proof of that. Cup Series drivers paced the field all day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and they settled things among themselves in the closing laps before Joey Logano took the checkered flag in his first ever XFINITY start in Sin City.

Logano had to survive several late restarts to pull it off, including one with 13 laps left and another with just four to go. Both times, Logano chose to start in the outside lane with Kyle Larson, who was fast all day, on the bottom. That strategy worked out well, as Larson stayed close but never really threatened to take the lead in the closing stages.

“It was hard to figure out which lane to pick,” Logano said to the Fox Sports crew in Victory Lane. “The only thing we did know is that we had a very fast Ford Mustang.”

“I thought Joey and I were pretty equal, but the clean air was big,” Larson said in his post-race interview. “I needed some longer runs there, and maybe some lapped traffic.”

Cup Series drivers took both the stage victories as well. Kyle Busch led wire to wire in Stage 1, while Brad Keselowski crossed the start/finish line first in Stage 2, though he had to hold off a hard-charging Kyle Larson to do it. Several XFINITY Series regulars claimed points in both stages, including Justin Allgaier, Matt Tifft and Bubba Wallace.

Allgaier was the highest finisher among XFINITY Series drivers, bouncing back from two tough races to start the 2017 season with a fourth-place finish. Wallace finished sixth, Elliott Sadler — who retains the series points leaving Las Vegas — seventh and Daytona winner Ryan Reed ninth.

Rookie William Byron also looked set for a top-10 finish before getting tangled up with Ty Dillon on the final lap. He ended up 14th, right behind fellow rookie Daniel Hemric.

Next: What are the stage lengths for the NASCAR Cup Series race in Las Vegas?

Full 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series Boyd Gaming 300 results from Las Vegas Motor Speedway

  1. Joey Logano (i)
  2. Kyle Larson (i)
  3. Daniel Suarez (i)
  4. Justin Allgaier
  5. Austin Dillon (i)
  6. Bubba Wallace
  7. Kyle Busch (i) – Stage 1 winner
  8. Elliott Sadler
  9. Ryan Reed
  10. Brad Keselowski (i) – Stage 2 winner
  11. Cole Custer
  12. Blake Koch
  13. Daniel Hemric
  14. William Byron
  15. Brandon Jones
  16. Brennan Poole
  17. Aric Almirola (i)
  18. Ryan Sieg
  19. Drew Herring
  20. Dakoda Armstrong
  21. Michael Annett
  22. JJ Yeley
  23. Spencer Gallagher
  24. Ty Dillon (i)
  25. Ross Chastain
  26. Jeremy Clements
  27. Harrison Rhodes
  28. David Starr
  29. Garrett Smithley
  30. Joey Gase
  31. Ray Black Jr.
  32. Martin Roy
  33. Timmy Hill
  34. Matt Tifft
  35. Brendan Gaughan
  36. Jeff Green
  37. BJ McLeod
  38. Brandon Hightower
  39. Stephen Leicht
  40. Jordan Anderson (i)
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