MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Before Martin Truex Jr. entered the picture in an attempt to drive a wedge into Team Penske’s late-race stature Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, the most compelling fight on the track was among Penske teammates themselves.
Joey Logano eventually won the First Data 500 after a rambunctious final 10 laps with Truex, but in the moments that preceded their dramatic finish, Logano was almost equally occupied by his teammate, Brad Keselowski, in their contest for the lead.
The stakes were far higher for Logano, who entered the race still alive in the playoff hunt and wound up clinching a berth in the Championship 4 field Nov. 18 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Keselowski was knocked from title contention in the previous week’s Round of 12 finale, but his goal of claiming a second Martinsville grandfather clock trophy loomed larger as the laps clicked off.
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The scope of their goals differed, but Keselowski forced the issue with Logano with less than 100 laps remaining, initiating contact and racing his teammate hard but within reasonable limits. Logano said he understood.
“Obviously he wanted to win. He showed that. I wanted to win. Obviously the win to me meant a lot more,” Logano said. “Obviously he wants to prove that he’s a championship car, as well, after everything that’s happened the last round. I get that. He was faster than me at the moment, then we were able to fight that battle and stay ahead. At that point I was hoping he would just race the 78 (Truex) as hard as possible to create some gap, because I saw how fast the 78 was taking off there, running us down.
“We did what we could do there to try to fight there. But I get it. He’s out here trying to win, too. It’s a race. It’s not just eight cars going for a win. There’s still 40 of them out there.”
Paul Wolfe, crew chief for Keselowski’s No. 2, said that his driver’s handling of their battle up front was all he could ask for. The two drivers traded the top spot in close-quarters competition in the late going, but never crossed the line of ruining each other’s day.
“We raced our teammate as good as you could race a teammate,” Wolfe said. “I told Brad when he got out of the car, I said, ‘I hope Joey gives you his bonus for this win because you sure deserve it for what you did helping him win this race.’ …
“If we’re not racing our teammate and we’re in the playoffs or a different scenario, we would’ve probably done a little bump and run and been gone long before it came to the end. We all race hard and race smart and look at the big picture.”
Roger Penske watched the whole scene play out near the end, claiming no nerves from seeing two of his cars locked in a late-race skirmish. The 81-year-old team owner was also quick to dismiss the concept of “team orders” and the notion that Keselowski would have been directed to play nice with Logano with the race and a championship bid in the balance.
“Not at all. Brad knew what had to happen here today,” Penske said. “I told them to use their heads. That’s all I said. He knew exactly what was going on.”
