Joey Logano overtook Kyle Busch with ten laps remaining to score his second Nationwide Series win of the season in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
The 19-year-old had started from pole position after beating Busch by just three thousandths of a second in qualifying.
Although Logano lost the lead to his teammate as soon as lap one, and was among a number of drivers penalized for speeding on pit road, he was able to quickly recover and get back in contention, leaving his best for last.
Right before the final caution period of the race, Logano had been chasing down Busch, showing he had the speed to put the leader under pressure and stir up the fight during the final sprint.
When the race resumed for the decisive 12-lap shootout, following nearly nine minutes under red flag for an incident involving Mike Bliss and Jason Leffler on the frontstretch, Logano attacked Busch on the inside and categorically claimed the lead from him with just 10 laps remaining. He then pulled away comfortably to score his second win in a row at the scene of his first career Nationwide Series victory, where he became the youngest winner ever in NASCAR's second-tier series a year ago.
"We're now two for two at Kentucky, two poles, two wins, that's a perfect record here and hopefully we can keep that going," Logano said. "Once I got behind Kyle, he just moved up the track a little bit, I got a big run and got underneath him. I just had a great car and once I got that clean air I knew I was going to be good."
Busch had taken the lead from Logano on the first lap of the race but then surrendered it back on lap 15. Following the first caution he took the lead from Justin Allgaier and stayed ahead seemingly without rivals, leading the most laps for the seventh consecutive event this season.
However, for the second time during the day, the 24-year-old was beaten in the closing stages of the race, as earlier in the afternoon Colin Braun overtook him with 24 laps remaining to win the Truck Series race at Michigan.
On Sunday, he will be second once again when he lines up on the grid for the Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan.
Brad Keselowski was able to beat rookie Brendan Gaughan in a tight battle for third place, while Penske's Justin Allgaier had another impressive run finishing fifth, recovering well from a pitlane penalty that dropped him down the order during the third caution period of the race.
Title contender Carl Edwards had a tough night, first struggling with the balance of his car and then getting two penalties for speeding on pit road towards the end of the race.
Unlike Logano and Allgaier, he had to serve his penalties under the green flag, which meant he finished three laps down in 20th place.
The Roush Fenway driver is now 137 points behind Busch in the Nationwide Series driver standings, while Keselowski moved up to third, dropping Leffler down to fourth place.
RESULTS:Pos Driver Car Laps
1. Joey Logano Toyota 200
2. Kyle Busch Toyota 200
3. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 200
4. Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 200
5. Justin Allgaier Dodge 200
6. Jason Leffler Toyota 200
7. Michael Annett Toyota 200
8. Burney Lamar Toyota 200
9. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford 200
10. Kelly Bires Chevrolet 200
11. Erik Darnell Ford 199
12. Trevor Bayne Toyota 199
13. Scott Lagasse Jr Toyota 199
14. Steve Wallace Chevrolet 199
15. Kevin Conway Toyota 199
16. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 198
17. Ken Butler III Chevrolet 198
18. Danny O'Quinn Jr Chevrolet 198
19. Mark Green Chevrolet 197
20. Carl Edwards Ford 197
21. Tony Raines Chevrolet 197
22. Derrike Cope Dodge 197
23. Jason Keller Ford 196
24. Brandon Whitt Ford 196
25. Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 195
26. Shelby Howard Chevrolet 195
27. Bobby Hamilton Jr Dodge 192
28. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 182
29. Michael McDowell Toyota 168
30. Eric McClure Ford 154
31. Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 137
32. John Wes Townley Ford 83
33. Mike Harmon Chevrolet 77
34. Kenny Hendrick Dodge 75
35. Brian Keselowski Dodge 38
36. Kevin Hamlin Chevrolet 35
37. Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 19
38. Chris Horn Chevrolet 17
39. Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 6
40. Brad Baker Ford 2
41. Justin Hobgood Chevrolet 2
42. Chad Blount Toyota 1
43. Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 1