Seven weeks into the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, there seems to be a pattern quickly emerging in regards to race winners and repeat winners aren’t included in that trend. Monday’s rain-delayed Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway saw Joey Logano become the seventh different winner of the season after a late caution and some pit strategy moves before the final restart. Logano led a race-high 108 laps en route to his first victory of the 2014 season and a potential berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup later in the season. The victory for the #22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford came at the expense of Jeff Gordon, who took two tires to inherit the lead for the final restart before subsequently being passed after the restart.
The race was originally scheduled to be run Sunday afternoon, but a strong storm front passing through the Dallas/Fort Worth area eventually caused NASCAR to postpone the race until 11 AM central time Monday morning. Points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. found his day ended early with a bizarre incident just 13 laps in. Earnhardt clipped the infield grass on the frontstretch, destroying the left front of his #88 National Guard Chevy and sending him into the outside wall, resulting in a massive fire. He was able to walk away unharmed. Besides two spins by the #41 Haas Automation Chevy of Kurt Busch, the race ran largely caution free before a debris caution with two laps to go setup a green-white-checkered finish. After the final restart, Logano took the lead from Gordon and never looked back. Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and rookie Kyle Larson rounded out the top five on the day.