Home Joey Logano dominates to win NASCAR WeatherGuard Truck Race on dirt at Bristol
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Joey Logano dominates to win NASCAR WeatherGuard Truck Race on dirt at Bristol

Rod Mullins
joey logano
Joey Logano. Photo: NASCAR

NASCAR Cup series regular Joey Logano led 138 of the 150 laps and crossed the finish line 1.241 seconds ahead of ThorSport Racing teammate Ty Majeski, to win the Weather Guard Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

Logano, driving the No. 66 truck for ThorSport Racing, swept the first two stages of the race and never looked back. He started on the pole and led the first 60 laps before a caution flag came out. Logano restarted on the outside pole and quickly regained the lead.

“My fun meter was pegged tonight,” said Logano, who won the second Truck Series race of his career. “I had a lot of fun out here racing at Bristol. The dirt’s a lot of fun.

“Hopefully, tomorrow is just as good with the other car.”

Logano will try to pull off the Bristol Dirt Double when he starts 12th in his No. 22 NASCAR Cup Series car in Sunday’s Food City Dirt Race at the half-mile track. He won the inaugural Cup Series dirt race at Bristol in 2021.

“I’m not sure we learned anything for (Sunday), because I didn’t get to race a whole bunch, but it was fun leading all those laps. I had a great spotter up there in Blaney. He kept me entertained and light-hearted and a (was) a whole lot of fun, too.”

The race was punctuated by 11 cautions for 64 laps, as trucks rubbed fenders, cut tires and spun on the slick clay surface with predictable frequency. Out front for virtually the entire race, Logano avoided the chaos behind him.

“They gave me a great race truck,” said Logano, who pressed Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney into service as his spotter. “We qualified good in the heat race and were able to drive to the lead pretty early in the race and were pretty much able to control it. I’m not sure we learned anything for (Sunday) because I didn’t get to race a whole bunch, but it was fun leading all those laps.”

Majeski, who started second, ran a strong race but was never able to challenge Logano for the lead. He finished second, followed by William Byron, Matt Crafton and Grant Enfinger rounding out the Top Five.

“He’s a two-time Cup champion for a reason,” Majeski said. “Just happy we got ThorSport in Victory Lane. ThorSport deserves to be in Victory Lane—just wish it was us. Just one spot short.

“Overall, he was just better than us tonight. I thought maybe at times, if we would have had a long run, I might have been able to match him or at least make him nervous. Just wasn’t in the cards for us.”

Dirt late model ace Jonathan Davenport finished 14th, one spot behind series regular Hailie Deegan, who ran as high as third during the early stages of the race.

Majeski leads the series standings by 34 points over defending champion Zane Smith, who was collected in a three-truck accident on Lap 95 and finished 21st.

Rod Mullins

Rod Mullins

Rod Mullins covers NASCAR for AFP, and co-hosts the mid-week “Street Knowledge” focusing on NASCAR with AFP editor Chris Graham. A graduate of UVA-Wise, Rod began his career in journalism as a reporter for The Cumberland Times, later became the program director/news director/on-air morning show host for WNVA in Norton, Va., and in the early 1990s served as the sports information director at UVA-Wise and was the radio “Voice of the Highland Cavaliers” for football and basketball for seven seasons. In 1995, Rod transitioned to public education, where he has worked as a high school English, literature, and creative writing teacher and now serves as a school program coordinator in addition to serving as a mentor for the robotics team.