Logano Races to a Seventh-Place Result at Pocono
August 5, 2013
THE RACE
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway (2.5-mile oval – Long Pond, Pennsylvania)
Sunday, August 4
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Driven By: Joey Logano
Start Position: 6
Finish Position: 7
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 17
THE RACE REVIEW
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
· Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion team qualified sixth for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
· With the competition caution scheduled for lap 20, Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon devised a game plan for the race. However, two early cautions changed that strategy and Logano visited the pits for the first time on lap 16 as he ran in the seventh position.
· Those early pit stops put teams throughout the field on different pit strategies. Gordon told Logano to stick to the team’s original strategy and Logano continued to run inside the top 10 for the majority of the afternoon.
· The Shell-Pennzoil Ford ran strong in the early part of a run, but began to fall off late in each stint. Despite the handling problems, Logano ran as high as third on several different occasions during the race.
· A four-tire stop on lap 96 left Logano 18th, but the strategy meant the Shell-Pennzoil Ford would be able to make it to the finish on just one more stop while many of the cars in front of Logano were expected to have at least two more stops.
· Despite the great strategy call, several late-race cautions helped the rest of the field stretch their fuel mileage to just one more stop, the same as the No. 22 team.
· Logano used his strong car to steadily move from 18th into the top 10 over the race’s final laps. In the end, Logano was able to come home with a seventh-place finish.
· His 10th top-10 result of the season moved Logano up one position in the Sprint Cup Series point standings. He is now ranked 17th, just 38 points outside of the top 10.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
JOEY LOGANO
YOURS WAS A TOP-10 CAR ALL DAY LONG. HOW DID YOUR RACE PLAY OUT?
“Those late restarts helped us. The cautions hurt our strategy a lot but then at the same time the cautions at the end helped us make up what we lost. It is kind of funny how it worked out on that last stop. We were a lot better than where we finished. Seventh isn’t bad for the Shell-Pennzoil Ford but I thought we were a top-three car today and have been the last few weeks. We need to keep that going and keep the momentum up and keep climbing toward a spot in the Chase.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW WELL YOU’VE BEEN RUNNING?
“We have a couple top-10 finishes in a row and we have been running up front in the top five the whole race. That is more of a momentum builder than the actual finish. If we didn’t have those issues with flat tires we would be on that top-10 streak still and I would feel pretty comfortable about our Chase hopes. We are still on that borderline where we can’t have mistakes or problems or we will be out of it. We just have to keep our heads in the game and keep trying to make up points.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series GoBowling.com 400 at Pocono Raceway (2.5-mile oval – Long Pond, Pennsylvania)
Sunday, August 4
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Driven By: Joey Logano
Start Position: 6
Finish Position: 7
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 17
THE RACE REVIEW
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
· Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion team qualified sixth for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
· With the competition caution scheduled for lap 20, Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon devised a game plan for the race. However, two early cautions changed that strategy and Logano visited the pits for the first time on lap 16 as he ran in the seventh position.
· Those early pit stops put teams throughout the field on different pit strategies. Gordon told Logano to stick to the team’s original strategy and Logano continued to run inside the top 10 for the majority of the afternoon.
· The Shell-Pennzoil Ford ran strong in the early part of a run, but began to fall off late in each stint. Despite the handling problems, Logano ran as high as third on several different occasions during the race.
· A four-tire stop on lap 96 left Logano 18th, but the strategy meant the Shell-Pennzoil Ford would be able to make it to the finish on just one more stop while many of the cars in front of Logano were expected to have at least two more stops.
· Despite the great strategy call, several late-race cautions helped the rest of the field stretch their fuel mileage to just one more stop, the same as the No. 22 team.
· Logano used his strong car to steadily move from 18th into the top 10 over the race’s final laps. In the end, Logano was able to come home with a seventh-place finish.
· His 10th top-10 result of the season moved Logano up one position in the Sprint Cup Series point standings. He is now ranked 17th, just 38 points outside of the top 10.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
JOEY LOGANO
YOURS WAS A TOP-10 CAR ALL DAY LONG. HOW DID YOUR RACE PLAY OUT?
“Those late restarts helped us. The cautions hurt our strategy a lot but then at the same time the cautions at the end helped us make up what we lost. It is kind of funny how it worked out on that last stop. We were a lot better than where we finished. Seventh isn’t bad for the Shell-Pennzoil Ford but I thought we were a top-three car today and have been the last few weeks. We need to keep that going and keep the momentum up and keep climbing toward a spot in the Chase.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW WELL YOU’VE BEEN RUNNING?
“We have a couple top-10 finishes in a row and we have been running up front in the top five the whole race. That is more of a momentum builder than the actual finish. If we didn’t have those issues with flat tires we would be on that top-10 streak still and I would feel pretty comfortable about our Chase hopes. We are still on that borderline where we can’t have mistakes or problems or we will be out of it. We just have to keep our heads in the game and keep trying to make up points.”