Joey Logano won the Wurth 400 at the Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas. The win is the first of the season for the multi-time Cup Series Champion.
Carson Hocevar started on the pole for the first time in his NASCAR career. He led the first 21 laps, cruising until the first caution. At that point, differing strategies came into play. With tire wear seemingly not much of a factor, some teams opted not to take four tires.
Those strategies allowed Austin Cindric to take the lead, and he would keep it for the majority of Stage One. While passing was difficult for most of the field, the #45 of Tyler Reddick was able to make up some ground. Reddick picked his way through the top five as the stage neared an end. However, Denny Hamlin’s #11 blew up with five laps to go in the stage, causing a caution right before Reddick could get past Cindric. Cindric’s #2 car won the first stage.
To start Stage Two, Josh Berry’s #21 got the lead due to taking two tires. He held it through the first portion of the stage, but then disaster struck. Berry spun unprovoked as he was trying to pass lapped traffic. He brought out the caution, deeming green-flag pit stops unnecessary.
Kyle Larson was the beneficiary of that exchange, as he quickly took the lead after the next restart. He was able to maintain that lead through the end, holding off Reddick. The third-place runner for that stretch, Chris Buescher, blew a tire with just a few laps left in the stage, ending his race-winning chances.
Larson remained ahead into the final stage, and kept that lead through multiple cautions. Kyle Busch spun with less than 40 laps to go, setting up a run to the finish.
Michael McDowell gained the lead after the restart, and looked poised to score a surprise victory. However, he was overtaken by Joey Logano with three laps to go and then wrecked. That set up an overtime finish.
On the final restart of overtime, Logano held off Blaney and Ross Chastain to win the race.