Nate Ryan

USA TODAY Sports

FORT WORTH — Joey Logano needed 190 starts for his first Sprint Cup victory on a 1.5-mile oval, but the circumstances and the spoils were worth the wait at Texas Motor Speedway.

"It's a really cool place to win," he said. "They give you a ring. I've got guns. I've got a trophy, I've got a (cowboy) hat. I've got a duck call."

He also has a newly minted title: 2014 championship contender — and a well-earned mantle, at that.

Logano essentially assured himself of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the second consecutive season with a nail-biting triumph in Monday's Duck Commander 500, becoming the seventh winner in seven races.

He dominated the second half of the 500-mile race, leading 108 of the final 116 laps in his No. 22 Ford, but still needed a charge from third to first in the final two laps. A green-white-checkered finish was triggered by a final caution flag (for debris from Kurt Busch's Chevrolet) that made Logano's heart sink and his dander spike.

"You're like, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" said Logano, who was leading comfortably in turn 3 on lap 333 of a scheduled 334 when the yellow flew. "You get so mad that you can barely control yourself. I had to make sure I stayed calm. I was just so mad."

The Team Penske driver, still only 23 despite being in his sixth full season in NASCAR's premier series, somehow found the composure to regroup. He powered past four-time series champion Jeff Gordon (who had taken the lead on a two-tire stop) on the last restart to become the third last-lap winner this year, joining teammate Brad Keselowski (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and Kyle Busch (Auto Club Speedway).

Gordon finished second, followed by Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers, Kyle Larson, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Tony Stewart.

Logano's fourth career victory and first in 19 races was a validating moment for the Middletown, Conn., native, who had led in six of seven races but was getting antsy.

"It's frustrating when you have winning cars, and you don't capitalize on it," he said. "On the flip side of that, it's a lot better than struggling to finish 10th, so I'm proud of that.

"This team has been doing a great job giving me what I need to win these things. To have both Team Penske cars with a win already is big. You can kind of start getting your ducks in a row for (the) Chase. You feel a little bit more comfortable."

Logano has found his comfort zone since joining Penske last season after failing to make the Chase in his first four seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing.

"I think Joey learned a lot over the years at JGR and never felt quite comfortable there for whatever reason," said former teammate Kyle Busch. "(He) sure found a home at Penske. Those guys are really good over there. They've shown good speed this year, and Joey (is) doing what he needs to be doing with it. Through the middle part of the race, Jeff and I were leading back and forth and out of nowhere comes (Logano). Then they were the class of the field."

That he exhibited such speed at Texas is significant. It's one of five 1.5-mile ovals in the Chase, the 10-race playoff to determine the championship.

With Logano and Keselowski (who finished 15th after leading 85 laps before being bit by a speeding penalty in the pits) virtually locked into title berths, Team Penske can focus on how to fine-tune their Fusions for more speed at the tracks that are most critical.

Logano said the team already was planning last weekend how to use its allotment of four tests for the remainder of the season.

"Now that we're in the Chase we can use our tests a little differently," Logano said. "It's big. It allows you to give the right direction and be able to really focus on later in the season at this point. I'm not saying we're not going to work hard to win more races throughout the rest of the year. But as far as updating specs and stuff like that, we can start focusing on Chase stuff."

The first postponement in four years at Texas had a bizarre start as track crews struggled to dry the track from drenching rains Sunday. With "weepers" (moisture seeping through cracks in the pavement) delaying the green-flag time of 12:13 p.m. ET, NASCAR elected to start the race with 10 laps under caution while continuing to dry the track.

But having several jet dryers on the track at the same time as the cars proved problematic because of the hot air. Several drivers' hood flaps popped up, and Keselowski's hood also was damaged. All were allowed to make stops to make adjustments and repairs without penalties.

The drama continued after the race restarted on lap 11. On the third green-flag lap, Dale Earnhardt Jr. clipped the frontstretch grass and blew out the left-front tire on his No. 88 Chevrolet. Earnhardt's car burst into flames after slamming the wall, but NASCAR's 11-time most popular driver was unhurt in the crash. He finished last.

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson also suffered during the incident, as his windshield was damaged by debris from Earnhardt's blowout and necessitated several pit stops. The six-time series champion was burned again on lap 40 when he pitted under green for a shredded right-rear tire on his No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson lost three laps and wasn't in contention again despite having a car that was among the fastest in practice.

Kevin Harvick also had a poor result with a strong car as the engine in his No. 4 Chevrolet expired after only 28 laps. Since winning at Phoenix International Raceway, Harvick has finished 36th or worse in four of five races.

"Something happened with the engine right after that restart," Harvick said. "(The car) was really fast. It's frustrating. I don't know what else I can say. I didn't get any indication that anything was going wrong. Hendrick engines are among the fastest and most reliable engines in the garage. We'll take it back to the shop and figure out what happened. But that's a disappointing end."

*****

MONDAY'S RESULTS

Lap length: 1.5 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 340 laps, 133 rating, 48 points, $561,881.

2. (12) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 340, 121.7, 43, $364,656.

3. (29) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 340, 113.4, 42, $289,211.

4. (23) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 340, 93.8, 40, $238,370.

5. (14) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 340, 104.7, 39, $202,865.

6. (4) Greg Biffle, Ford, 340, 110.2, 38, $196,910.

7. (26) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 340, 85.6, 37, $192,046.

8. (25) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 340, 100.6, 37, $174,701.

9. (13) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 340, 85.6, 35, $163,824.

10. (1) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 340, 101.2, 35, $190,243.

11. (32) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 340, 92.4, 33, $147,500.

12. (17) Aric Almirola, Ford, 340, 80.4, 32, $168,306.

13. (6) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 340, 101.6, 32, $137,770.

14. (5) Carl Edwards, Ford, 340, 84.9, 30, $143,120.

15. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 340, 123.1, 30, $175,053.

16. (8) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 340, 86.4, 28, $133,815.

17. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 340, 93.9, 27, $156,729.

18. (18) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 340, 72, 26, $149,723.

19. (7) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 339, 75.7, 0, $116,240.

20. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 339, 75.8, 24, $146,260.

21. (20) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 339, 61.1, 23, $162,251.

22. (39) David Gilliland, Ford, 339, 63, 22, $141,773.

23. (33) A J Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 339, 56.5, 21, $129,898.

24. (22) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 339, 62.4, 20, $134,573.

25. (16) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 338, 53, 19, $162,051.

26. (31) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 338, 56.3, 18, $145,140.

27. (24) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 338, 53.2, 17, $115,690.

28. (21) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 338, 59.1, 16, $125,748.

29. (27) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 337, 52.5, 15, $114,162.

30. (28) Michael McDowell, Ford, 335, 56.9, 14, $101,965.

31. (42) Cole Whitt, Toyota, 335, 39.2, 13, $98,540.

32. (30) Alex Bowman, Toyota, 335, 41.5, 12, $100,440.

33. (38) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 334, 40.1, 12, $98,840.

34. (40) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 334, 32.3, 0, $95,240.

35. (43) David Ragan, Ford, 334, 28.7, 9, $107,790.

36. (41) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 333, 33, 8, $92,990.

37. (37) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 332, 36.3, 7, $91,889.

38. (34) David Reutimann, Ford, 332, 39.3, 6, $84,865.

39. (11) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, accident, 327, 60.6, 5, $80,865.

40. (36) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, overheating, 313, 31.6, 4, $76,865.

41. (35) Dave Blaney, Ford, steering, 272, 34.7, 3, $72,865.

42. (3) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, engine, 28, 43.4, 3, $110,173.

43. (19) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, accident, 12, 28.9, 1, $73,640.

———

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 134.191 mph.

Time of Race: 3 hours, 48 minutes, 2 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.476 seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 49 laps.

Lead Changes: 18 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: T.Stewart 1-24; K.Harvick 25; T.Stewart 26-50; R.Sorenson 51; T.Stewart 52-76; B.Keselowski 77-96; J.Gordon 97-98; B.Keselowski 99-121; D.Hamlin 122-140; J.Gordon 141-142; Ky.Busch 143-152; J.Gordon 153-183; B.Keselowski 184-225; J.Logano 226-299; D.Hamlin 300; C.Bowyer 301; J.Logano 302-334; J.Gordon 335-339; J.Logano 340.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Logano, 3 times for 108 laps; B.Keselowski, 3 times for 85 laps; T.Stewart, 3 times for 74 laps; J.Gordon, 4 times for 40 laps; D.Hamlin, 2 times for 20 laps; Ky.Busch, 1 time for 10 laps; C.Bowyer, 1 time for 1 lap; R.Sorenson, 1 time for 1 lap; K.Harvick, 1 time for 1 lap.

Wins: Kurt Busch, 1; Kyle Busch, 1; D.Earnhardt Jr., 1; C.Edwards, 1; K.Harvick, 1; Bra.Keselowski, 1; J.Logano, 1.

Top 12 in Points: 1. J.Gordon, 259; 2. M.Kenseth, 255; 3. C.Edwards, 247; 4. J.Logano, 235; 5. Ky.Busch, 231; 6. D.Earnhardt Jr., 228; 7. J.Johnson, 228; 8. Bra.Keselowski, 218; 9. B.Vickers, 205; 10. P.Menard, 203; 11. R.Newman, 202; 12. A.Dillon, 202.