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On a restart with just under 100 laps to go, there were three strategies at the front of the field. The front row stayed out on old tires, the next two rows all took two fresh tires, while pole-sitter Joey Logano was the first driver with four fresh tires in seventh. Right in front of him was the #1 of Ross Chastain.
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As the race went back green and the field cut down into the dogleg, Logano was all over Chastain and gave him a bump. That touch upset the #1 Chevrolet and Chastain began to fishtail. Logano then caught his right-rear, sending Chastain spinning sideways up the track.
Anthony Alfredo and Austin Cindric had nowhere to go, slamming into the wreck and hopping off the ground as they plowed into the outside wall. It appeared that the #48 Hendrick Chevrolet had all four wheels off the ground for a moment. Alfredo was filling in for Alex Bowman, who was sidelined with vertigo this week.
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All three cars were heavily damaged, and Bubba Wallace also suffered some left-side door damage. Chastain managed to continue, but he was over 25 laps down.
Logano’s race comes to an end
Logano was apologetic on the radio, but as fate would have it, Chastain ended up finishing the race ahead of the #22 Penske Ford. Not long after, Logano made contact with Allmendinger in the same area of the track while battling three-wide and spun. He slid down to the apron before skidding back up the track, collecting Daniel Suarez and Josh Berry. All three drivers were out of the race.
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“I’m not really 100% sure what happened there,” said Logano outside the infield care center when asked about his own race-ending wreck. ” I guess I didn’t realize we were three-wide, but it still seemed like there was some room there. Just ran out of space into (Turn) 1. Just seemed like racing, I guess. It is what it is.”
The three-time series champion then addressed the Chastain contact, saying: “I didn’t mean to get Ross there on the restart. I had a run and he kind of went down to the bottom with me and gosh, it’s been a rough day. We had a good Mustang, probably a top three or four car, and it just really hurts to be here.”
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Asked what he saw before getting collected, Cindric said: “A whole lot of cars going right when the cars need to be going left. It’s just a real shame. We had a really fast Ford Mustang.
“We got points in both stages and were in desperate need of a race finish without a crash and we did not get that today. It’s a shame because I felt like we did all the right things throughout the afternoon, so that’s racing. I’m not discouraged by any means. It’s a long season. My team has brought me four fast race cars to start the year.”
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