Busch push helps Logano claim victory

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Joey Logano needed a boost to turn around his slumping season. It started last weekend on the road course at Sonoma and continued on the high banks of Daytona.

Logano got his first win of the season Friday night with a last-lap push from teammate Kyle Busch to win the Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. The victory came on the heels of Logano winning the pole for the Sprint Cup race at Sonoma, then finishing a career-best sixth on the road course.

"I really needed it. I've been digging as hard as I possibly can," Logano said. "I'm pretty pumped up."

He was the unlikely winner, though, as Danica Patrick flirted several times with the victory. She had help at various times from Tony Stewart and was paired in the closing laps with JR Motorsports teammate Aric Almirola.

Stewart at that point had hooked up with Elliott Sadler and was committed to pushing his Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate to the win.

The Sadler-Stewart pairing took the lead from the Patrick-Almirola tandem, and Patrick had to weave her way back to mount another pass. Then Logano-Busch charged to the front on the final lap, leaving all the other contenders stuck in a tight pack of traffic.

As Logano closed in on the finish line, Mike Wallace squeezed Patrick against the wall, she bounced back into the pack and an eight-car accident marred the finish. Sadler and Stewart were also in the wreck, and Almirola had to climb from a car engulfed in flames.

"It just looks like a bit of a cluster," said Patrick, who finished 10th. "I kept my foot in it, which might not be the best thing here, but I was going for broke. I learned a lot, that's for sure."

It was Logano's first win at Daytona and ninth of his Nationwide career.

Jason Leffler finished second, and Reed Sorenson was third to win a $100,000 bonus as the highest finishing eligible driver in sponsor Nationwide's first Dash 4 Cash race. Busch was fourth.