Logano wins XFINITY race at Watkins Glen

WATKINS GLEN, NY – A faulty track bar on Brad Keselowski's second-place No. 22 Ford gave teammate and pole-sitter Joey Logano's No. 12 Team Penske Ford a little more breathing room, as Logano held on to the lead the final 27 laps and win Saturday afternoon's XFINITY Series' Zippo 200 at The Glen. This the first XFINITY Series win of the 2016 season for Logano, who swept Watkins Glen last season in the XFINITY and Sprint Cup races.

Driving the No. 2 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing's Paul Menard earned the runner-up result, while Kyle Larson took third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet. Joe Gibbs Racing's Daniel Suarez and Trevor Bayne, who piloted the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford this weekend, rounded out the top five.

Keselowski was engaged in a battle with his teammate Logano when the track bar of Keselowski's No. 22 Ford broke with eight laps to go. Keselowski struggled with the car for a lap, but was forced to pit once for evaluation and then again for repairs. Unable to continue, Keselowski called it a day with three laps remaining and was scored 24th.

A multi-car wreck occurred early at Lap 17 when Todd Bodine's No. 90 Chevrolet bounced off the wall, collecting Kyle Busch, Darrell Wallace Jr., Blake Koch, Nicholas Hammann and Tomy Drissi. NASCAR officials displayed the red flag for debris clean-up. Busch, Bodine, Koch and Drissi all exited the race early.

The road course mayhem continued with points leader Erik Jones' No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota running out of gas at Lap 50 and Derrike Cope's No. 70 machine blowing up on the track at Lap 58. Jones was able to get back into the race, finishing 12th.

"I didn't see anything because it was behind me," Bodine said. "They said the 39 (of Sieg) ran into me in the back of me at the top of the Esses. I thought I had it saved, and I don't know if I just overcorrected or what, but it turned it right out in the outside wall. It was a pretty hard hit."

Bodine said the drivers were being too aggressive too early --€“ something he believes had to do with the youth of many in the field.

"Sometimes you've got to give," said the 52-year-old Bodine, a native of nearby Chemung, N.Y., who was racing in a one-off deal pieced together by local sponsorship. "You can't always take. You've got to give a lot in this sport. And I think that was probably one time he needed to give and didn't, so we've got a wrecked race car." 

The XFINITY Series returns to the track Aug. 13 for the series standalone race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (3:30 p.m. ET USA/MRN/Sirius XM).