MIDDLETOWN - As ex-champions Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski barged, banged and traded paint and positions during the final laps of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway April 26, Middletown’s Joey Logano took advantage of their on-track antics. His savvy move to sneak from fourth gave Logano the checkers in a typically wild short-track Saturday night finish.

       Once in front, Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion eased away from the intense three-car duel behind him. Gordon eventually passed Kenseth and Keselowski, but the damage was done and Logano was long gone, leaving the squabbling Kenseth and Keselowski to start a war of words in pit lane afterwards.

       â€�"What a crazy race,” said Logano, who came into Richmond winless in his first 10 starts at the 3/4-mile oval.

       â€�"I had a really bad restart and I said, ‘Man, I screwed up. I’m not going to win.’”

       â€�"The 2 [Keselowski] was really fast up top and he was really good on restarts. The 20 [Kenseth] realized it, and the 20 was blocking him. Eventually the seas parted while they were up there racing each other and I was able to get underneath and pass them both in one shot, so it worked out pretty good for me.”

       In pit lane after the race, Gordon said, â€�"Joey was in the right place. He had a good short-run car. We were battling it out and Matt was making his car super wide, which you’ve got to do to try to win. We were just battling hard and it just didn’t come down the way we needed it to.”

       Now in his second season at Team Penske, Logano is showing an increased maturity in his driving, as he now runs at the head of the field on a regular basis and must be considered an early favorite to take the championship in 2014.

       With three career victories driving for Roger Penske, the 24-year-old has more wins in 45 races with the team than he scored in more than four seasons (150 starts) with former employer Joe Gibbs Racing.

       Logano raced intelligently and kept his Ford Fusion near the front throughout the race, knowing what was needed for victory at Richmond.

       â€�"The long run before the last couple of cautions, we started losing our track position,” Logano said. â€�"I was like, man, I really need to hold off these guys the best I can because it’s going to be my only shot when the late-race caution comes out. I was thinking there was going to be another one [caution] because I felt like someone was going to blow one [tire] out before the end of the race and there would be a caution, and that’s what happened.

       â€�"At this point, we have nothing to lose,” Logano said of the remaining races before the Chase for the Sprint Cup field is set. â€�"It’s all about going for wins and having fun out there and making sure we’re ready when the Chase starts.”

       Logano started the race from 17th spot after Friday’s qualifying was rained out and the starting lineup was set by practice speeds. As soon as the green flag waved on race day, he began to work his way to the front of the field and was in the top 10 by lap 28.

       When a NASCAR-mandated competition caution flag came out, Logano was battling a condition that saw the Shell-Pennzoil Ford handling tight in the center of the corners. The issue would plague the team throughout the evening.

       By lap 87, the Middletown native had worked his way into the top five and continued to run at the front for the remainder of the race. Logano was among the strongest in the field for 25 laps, but the same tight-center condition would hamper him as he fell back on longer runs. Despite the handling issues, Logano raced his way to the lead on lap 243, but soon fell back to third place.

       Logano found himself running sixth entering the final pit stop of the night with less than 30 laps remaining. His over-the-wall pit crew got him out in fourth place for the final sprint to the checkered flag.

       The stage was set for a wild evening of classic short-track racing that caused tempers to flare in a big way when Clint Bowyer spun out pole sitter Kyle Larson on the opening lap. Larson recovered to finish 16th while Bowyer’s night ended on lap 159 with suspension damage as he ran in 43rd place.

       As Logano and his crew celebrated in victory lane having punched their ticket to the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the biggest skirmish was kicking off in pit lane when Marcos Ambrose, who finished 18th, confronted Casey Mears, who was 19th. Mears pushed Ambrose out of the way, and Ambrose retaliated with a Floyd Mayweather-like punch to Mears’ face that appeared to draw blood.

       â€�"It’s pretty cool to be standing here [in victory lane] at a track you’re not very good at,” Logano said. â€�"This is a huge deal. This is so cool to win two races already. It’s going to be one heck of a season.

       â€�"The wins are all great,” Logano said with a laugh. â€�"I’ve never had a bad one before.”