Logano Races His Way to an 11th-Place Result at Sonoma
June 24, 2013
THE RACE
The Toyota-Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (10-turn, 1.99-mile road course, Sonoma, Calif.) – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Sunday, June 23, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Start Position: 8
Finish Position: 11
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 14
THE RACE REVIEW
· Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team qualified eighth for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway.
· Early in the race, Logano reported a bad vibration in the car under braking and an extremely loose-handling condition coming out of the corners. The ill-handling car resulted in Logano dropping from eighth to 26th before Crew Chief Todd Gordon and the team were able to get the Ford Fusion to the pits and make some chassis adjustments.
· The major changes helped the Shell Pennzoil Ford dramatically, as Logano was able to race solidly inside the top 15 for the remainder of the race.
· As the race played out, so did the strategy. Gordon relied on a three-pit stop strategy as left Logano stayed on the track at lap 69 while others pitted. Logano went on to lead the next 10 laps before falling back to second.
· Logano restarted the race in 18th place following his final pit stop of the day and he was able to race his way up to 11th as the checkered flags waved.
· With the 11th-place finish, Logano remains 14th in the Sprint Cup Series point standings, just 14 points outside of the top 10.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
IT WAS TOUGH START TO THE RACE. HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO COME BACK TO 11TH AT THE END?
“It was eventful. I was kind of disappointed at the beginning of the race because we were going backwards in a hurry. I couldn’t get into the corner and couldn’t get off the corner. We just had some braking issues and some chassis setup stuff for the exit, but the guys did a good job. They got the car better. We never had enough speed, so we really just focused on making sure we had some tires at the end because I had about 20 laps of good in it and then it hit a light switch and I’d go backwards in a hurry. We made sure we had something at the end because we knew we weren’t good on the long runs, so we put tires on it and tried to forge our way forward. We came up 11th – just a little bit short for our goal to get through today with a solid top 10, but from where we started today it was a good finish for us.”
The Toyota-Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (10-turn, 1.99-mile road course, Sonoma, Calif.) – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Sunday, June 23, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Start Position: 8
Finish Position: 11
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 14
THE RACE REVIEW
· Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team qualified eighth for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway.
· Early in the race, Logano reported a bad vibration in the car under braking and an extremely loose-handling condition coming out of the corners. The ill-handling car resulted in Logano dropping from eighth to 26th before Crew Chief Todd Gordon and the team were able to get the Ford Fusion to the pits and make some chassis adjustments.
· The major changes helped the Shell Pennzoil Ford dramatically, as Logano was able to race solidly inside the top 15 for the remainder of the race.
· As the race played out, so did the strategy. Gordon relied on a three-pit stop strategy as left Logano stayed on the track at lap 69 while others pitted. Logano went on to lead the next 10 laps before falling back to second.
· Logano restarted the race in 18th place following his final pit stop of the day and he was able to race his way up to 11th as the checkered flags waved.
· With the 11th-place finish, Logano remains 14th in the Sprint Cup Series point standings, just 14 points outside of the top 10.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
IT WAS TOUGH START TO THE RACE. HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO COME BACK TO 11TH AT THE END?
“It was eventful. I was kind of disappointed at the beginning of the race because we were going backwards in a hurry. I couldn’t get into the corner and couldn’t get off the corner. We just had some braking issues and some chassis setup stuff for the exit, but the guys did a good job. They got the car better. We never had enough speed, so we really just focused on making sure we had some tires at the end because I had about 20 laps of good in it and then it hit a light switch and I’d go backwards in a hurry. We made sure we had something at the end because we knew we weren’t good on the long runs, so we put tires on it and tried to forge our way forward. We came up 11th – just a little bit short for our goal to get through today with a solid top 10, but from where we started today it was a good finish for us.”