FORT WORTH, Texas (MAY 4, 2025) – Team Penske’s Joey Logano survived a battle of attrition and took control in the two-lap overtime session of Sunday’s Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY to become the ninth different winner in the last nine races at Texas Motor Speedway.
The defending Cup Series champion also overcame starting 27th in the 38-car field, the furthest a TMS winner has come since Denny Hamlin in 2010, and led just seven laps for his 37th Cup Series career victory. The win was his first of the season and first at Texas since 2014.
“Just slowly, methodically, a couple (of cars) at a time,” said Logano of how he battled to the front. “We had a really tough pit stall situation, and the pit crew did a good job of managing that and just grabbed a couple (positions) here and there. The car was fast. I knew that yesterday. I just did a poor job qualifying and just grinded it out. Just kept grinding a couple here and a couple there and eventually get a win here, so it was nice to get one – real nice.”
There were 20 lead changes among 13 drivers in the 271-lap race, with 12 cautions for 73 laps playing a pivotal role in eliminating contenders as well as putting several others in position to win. Five cautions came in the final 42 laps to tighten the field each time as drivers like Logano and Michael McDowell, searching for his first top-10 finish at TMS in 27 starts, looked to take advantage.
McDowell moved up 15 positions into second behind Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson after gambling on two tires with fuel in the final cycle of pit stops with 46 laps remaining. Logano, who went with four and fuel, came out fifth. Despite the tire disadvantage, McDowell would eventually overtake Larson for the lead on Lap 244 and led 19 of the next 20 laps.
“You don’t want to give up the lead on a mile-and-a-half (track); it’s hard to get it back,” Larson said. “Michael just did a good job timing it. I left early the restart before and was gonna leave early again then, and he just anticipated and left, probably right with me or just barely before and he had (Tyler) Reddick pushing him behind him. I wish I could go back and do that all over again, so yeah, a bummer, but try to learn from it.”
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney led that single lap during McDowell’s time on the point, and he also was disappointed that he quickly relinquished the lead back to McDowell.
“The one time I didn’t pick the outside, the 71 (McDowell) gets the lead and then I couldn’t get it back,” Blaney said. “… So just a driver making dumb decisions and not doing his job, so appreciate the 12 car was a fast car, sucks, can’t do nothing right currently, so hopefully it will work itself out.”
With four to go, Logano made an inside move on McDowell on the backstretch and grabbed the lead for the first time heading into Turn 3. One lap later, Blaney passed McDowell on the backstretch that unsettled the Spire Motorsports car and sent it into the wall to force the overtime session.
In overtime, Logano chose the inside for the restart with Blaney starting beside him on the front row. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain restarted third, Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones fourth and Larson fifth.
Logano had a strong restart to get out in front of Blaney before Chastain quickly moved into second in pursuit of the leader. Logano had a .27 of a second lead after the first OT lap and stretched it to a .346 margin of victory as Chastain never could mount a challenge.
It’s a working-class day,” Chastain said. “There was one pit stop today that (crew chief) Phil Surgen and the group made that made me a confident driver all of a sudden with one adjustment. It was small stuff – it doesn’t even make sense – but after that I was a confident driver. I can’t drive an uncomfortable car, I can’t personally, so as soon as they got it comfortable or at least gave me some confidence, we started going forward.”
The second-place finish for Chastain and the third for Blaney were both season-best finishes. Larson, who led four times for a race-high 90 laps, took fourth for his series-leading eighth top-five effort. Jones also posted a season-best finish with his fifth-place showing.
“It’s been a long time, I guess, somebody just told me it was Kansas ‘23 since we had a top five on a non-speedway, so yeah, it’s awhile but I’m just proud of Legacy, proud of this group,” Jones said. “It’s been a long road, the last year and a half, just happy to see the Advent Camry up front, happy to be up front in contention. It was kind of a long day with some penalties, but ending up in contention for us, it was fun.”
Texas Motor Speedway’s current 2025 events calendar continues with the C10 Nationals (May 9-10), Holley LS Fest Texas (May 16-17), Bandas y Trocas (May 24), Solar Car Challenge (July 17-23), Goodguys Summit Racing Lone Star Nationals (Sept. 26-28), Texas World Dirt Track Championship (Oct. 3-4 at the TMS Dirt Track), October Truck Madness (Oct. 11), Kubota High Limit Racing All-In Championship (Oct. 17-18 at the TMS Dirt Track), FuelFest (Oct. 25), POWRi Sprint Cars (Nov. 7-8 at the TMS Dirt Track) and Xtreme Xperience (Dec. 11-14).