Although Martin Truex Jr. absolutely dominated the event, Team Penske showed the ability to run with him at times throughout the race.
First it was Ryan Blaney, but after a late penalty, his teammate Logano found himself in a position to now fight Truex for the win.
He got close to the rear bumper of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but was never able to pull alongside of Truex after multiple restarts. He had to settle for second, just four tenths back at the finish line. It was Logano's best finish since April, and it was no fluke. He was a frontrunner for most of the day.
"I thought I would have had something," said Logano post-race. "Right before that caution came out two cautions to the end when we had tires on, it seemed like the 19 (Truex) took a few laps to get going. I was running him down, I was like man, I've got a chance here. That caution came out right when I was thinking I could make a move on the outside into (Turn) 3.
"And then it seemed like the cycles helped him get his pressures up to where he can refire and be pretty quick the last couple restarts. Dangit, the home track, there's no place you want to win more than this, so it stings to not get the Shell-Pennzoil Ford into Victory Lane. But gosh, second just sucks sometimes, you know. It stings the most when you're that close and feeling like you had a shot at it. Still a good day for us."
Despite the loss, Loudon was a step in the right direction for the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, which has been very hit or miss this season.
"Yeah, directionally that was good we tried a lot of new things today," he explained. "We weren't good here last year, so we tried a lot of different things. Some things better, some things not, but overall kind of can hang in the Top 5 all day and have a shot at the win.
"Still a lot of work to do to be the favorite at the moment, but we're making the right steps right now."
