LOUDON, N.H. -- Raised in Connecticut, Joey Logano always considered New Hampshire his home track, the one where he dreamed of being bathed in confetti in Victory Lane and flocked by family and friends.

For Logano, the track about 75 miles outside of Boston was his version of Daytona.

Winning at New Hampshire could mean a bit more to him than a boyhood fantasy fulfilled when the season ends -- it could be Logano's launching pad for his first NASCAR championship.

Logano helped Team Penske strengthen its grip as the organization to beat for the championship, pulling away on an overtime restart to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and advance to the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

Make it 2 for 2 for Team Penske in the Chase.

Logano and teammate Brad Keselowski, who won the Chase opener at Chicagoland, have both advanced to the next round. Four drivers will be eliminated after every third race, and a win guarantees a driver an automatic berth into the next round. The first cutoff race is next week at Dover International Speedway.

Team Penske will be playing with house money at the Monster Mile. Roger Penske's crew is rolling, winning four of the last five races dating to Bristol and snagging the early lead on the scorecard against Hendrick Motorsports.

Will Power won the IndyCar Series championship for Penske last month.

Logano raced to his fourth victory of the season, leading 73 laps and surviving a NASCAR season-high 15 cautions that wrecked results for several Chase drivers.

He took the lead from Kevin Harvick with 27 laps left and went on to his seventh career Cup victory.

Logano attended his first NASCAR race at New Hampshire when he was 5, made his first career Cup start here and won his first race in 2009. But that was a rain-shortened win that always gnawed at Logano. Until he became a regular winner, it was considered a bit of a fluke and the rain meant Logano was denied a traditional victory celebration.

This time, he took No. 22 Ford for the celebratory burnouts and a spin around the track holding the checkered flag.

Keselowski led 78 laps, hit the wall, and still was in the hunt for a win. The 2012 champion failed in his bid to win a third straight Cup race, though he salvaged a seventh-place finish.

Keselowski and Logano are 1-2 in the points standings. Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch and Aric Almirola are in the bottom four of the 16-driver field at and risk of getting cut next Sunday at Dover.

Rookie Kyle Larson was second at New Hampshire for his second top-three finish in two weeks. Chase drivers took seven of the first 10 spots at New Hampshire. Harvick was third, Jimmie Johnson fifth, Almirola sixth, Kyle Busch eighth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 10th.

The staggering number of cautions slowed the 300-mile race and wrecked the chances for several Chase drivers to contend for a win. Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Hamlin and Matt Kenseth; Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne; and Stewart-Haas Racing's Kurt Busch all finished outside of the top 20.

Tony Stewart was 30th in his first race since he learned a grand jury will decide his fate in the fatal sprint car crash in upstate New York.

Other Chase drivers included: AJ Allmendinger was 13th, Roush Fenway Racing drivers Biffle and Carl Edwards were 16th and 17th, Ryan Newman 18th, Kenseth 21st, Kahne 23rd, and Gordon 26th.

Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota suffered from fuel woes and was later collected in a multicar wreck and will likely need a win at Dover to advance.

 

David Ragan, #34 Taco Bell Ford and Denny Hamlin, #11 FedEx Ground Toyota, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Jerry Markland/Getty Images
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Logano gave Ford its 12th win this season and 630th overall. About the only sour note was Penske's absence, who skipped the race because of an overseas business trip. But The Captain was filled in on the news that his driver won a race -- which almost seems like a guarantee these days.

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