WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - This time, Joey Logano survived the rain.
Logano passed fellow Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski on a restart in the closing laps and held off his final challenge to win Saturday at Watkins Glen International in an NASCAR Xfinity Series race red-flagged for rain, which forced the drivers to briefly run on grooved rain tires.
"I thought that was going to be my best shot," Logano said. "I wasn't going to go all or nothing, but I was able to get all the way to their doors. It's hard racing at the end. We were going for it."
Logano, who started in pole position, took control with less than 10 laps to go in the 82-lap race. He went inside on the road course's first turn, making it three-wide racing going through the 90-degree right-hander. The move forced Keselowski, who was leading, to go wide as Logano assumed the top spot, leaving his teammate behind.
It became a two-car race as Keselowski recovered and the two top-tier Cup Series regulars pulled away. With four laps to go, Keselowski was on Logano's back bumper as they sped nose to tail. Keselowski lost his chance to challenge for the victory when he skidded out on the first turn with less than three laps to go.
"I tried to pull away, and I couldn't," Logano said. "I knew he was thinking that was going to be his chance. I knew I could drive into that corner pretty hard. We both were pushing the cars as hard as we possibly could."
Logano beat AJ Allmendinger, another Cup Series driver, to the finish line by 3.3 seconds. Justin Allgaier was third, followed by Justin Haley and Aric Almirola. It was Logano's third Xfinity Series at Watkins Glen and his 30th Xfinity Series overall, seventh on the career list.
Keselowski finished 10th, one spot behind series rookie Christopher Bell, who leads the points standings and was chasing a record-tying fourth consecutive win.
"I felt like I was doing OK," said Bell, who ran as high as fourth in his first race at Watkins Glen. "I was keeping up with the guys in front of me. I passed a couple of guys, so that was a lot of fun, searching for grip. Then the track dried out, and it was a subpar day, not really competitive."
Bell became the series' first driver since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1999 to win three straight with a victory the week before at Iowa Speedway. Sam Ard set the record of four consecutive Xfinity Series wins in 1983.
Logano was dominant at the start Saturday, leading the entire 20-lap first stage and keeping Keselowski at bay. Keselowski gained the lead after pit stops on a caution early in the second segment as a huge rainstorm moved into the area and began pelting the track. He quickly built a half-second lead over Allmendinger before a crash precipitated the third caution of the race midway through the stage.
The cars pitted to put on the grooved rain tires Goodyear has lugged around to road courses for years. The series had raced in the rain before, in Montreal in 2008, and it proved dramatic with water six to eight inches deep on parts of the track. Logano wrecked in that race when he slammed into a car he couldn't see.
Keselowski, who started second Saturday, was among several drivers who pitted for regular tires during a caution with a couple of laps left in the second 20-lap stage. Allmendinger held on to win the stage, and the rest of the field pitted for slicks because the track was nearly completely dry again.
Allmendinger dropped deep in the field when he missed his pit box in the wet conditions and was assessed a penalty, then staged a stirring rally.
"It was fun," Allmendinger said. "That's the way it should be, if it rains and it dries back out. You've got to deal with the elements. That's what road racing is all about. I drove through there as hard as I could."