Joey Logano wins the 2016 FireKeepers 400 at Michigan International Speedway

Joey Logano started first in Sunday’s NASCAR race and largely held that position throughout the afternoon, capping a dominant performance to win the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Logano led 138 of 200 laps in scoring his first victory of the season and 15th of his career. Rookie Chase Elliott finished second, with Kyle Larson third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.

“When you lead that many laps, it’s more of a relief when you win than anything because you feel like you’re supposed to when you have a car that good,” Logano said. “It felt really good to pull our car into victory lane, get that win.”

Lined up second, Elliott had his chance to get by Logano on a restart with seven laps remaining. But as he did for throughout the 400-mile race, Logano got the superior restart and quickly distanced himself from Elliott and the rest of the field.

“There is a lot of thought that goes into restarts with this race team, from every angle,” Logano said. “It all kind of came together.”

Elliott’s runner-up was a career-best finish, but he blamed himself for not getting better restarts. He missed a gear on a restart while leading with 47 laps left and lost several positions. That allowed Logano to take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

“I just did something dumb,” Elliott said. “You can’t do dumb stuff and win these races. Completely my fault.”

Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch completed the top 10 finishers. Stewart’s seventh-place effort was just his second top 10 in seven races in this his final year before retirement.

“That is the kind of weekend I’ve been looking for all year out of this group -- proof that we can do it,” Stewart said. “I would rather have this than win a race and run 15th/20th the next week. From start to finish all weekend it’s been solid and that is what we are looking for right now. I’m tickled to death.”

The race featured a revised aerodynamic rules package designed to generate additional passing opportunities. Among the alterations was a shortened rear spoiler that made the cars difficult to control and required drivers to decelerate while cornering.

Drivers noticeably had their hands full on Sunday, with cars almost continually wanting to break free. One incident saw Chris Buescher slide up into Dale Earnhardt Jr., who then hit AJ Allmendinger before bouncing off the outside backstretch wall.

Overall, nine cautions slowed the race for 46 laps.

“I think you saw that you have to really drive these cars,” Keselowski said. “They are hard to drive and that causes accidents. I don’t think that is a bad thing. It just means everybody is on the edge. You could really see that (Sunday).”