Logano Earns His Third-Straight Top-10 at Watkins Glen
August 12, 2013
THE RACE
CHEEZ-IT 355 At The Glen at Watkins Glen International (2.45-mile road course, Watkins Glen, N.Y.)
Sunday, August 11, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Driven By Joey Logano
Start Position: 9
Finish Position: 7
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 16
THE RACE REVIEW
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
· Joey Logano qualified the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the ninth position for Sunday’s CHEEZ-IT 355 at The Glen.
· Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon devised a plan to complete the race on two pit stops. A couple of early cautions made their two-stop plan even more of a reality.
· Early in the race, Logano reported that the No. 22 Ford was handling very tight, especially in turn two and through the carousel on the classic road course. Gordon and the Shell-Pennzoil team made a number of adjustments on the first stop to counter this handling condition.
· For most of the afternoon, Logano ran between 10th and 15th place. Then, during the second and final stop of the day, which came before most of the other leaders, Gordon called for a change to loosen up the No. 22 Ford Fusion. After the adjustment, Logano and the Shell-Pennzoil Ford were as fast as they’d been all day long.
· As the green-flag pit stops were cycling through, the caution flag was displayed. Logano found himself positioned eighth on the race restart.
· Logano was able to race into the seventh position and he held onto the spot through a number of late-race cautions, as he earned his third-straight top-10 finish.
· Logano gained another position in the series point standings with the strong result and he is now ranked 16th, just 27 points outside of the top 10 with four races to go until the Chase.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
JOEY LOGANO
YOU WERE ABLE TO STAY NEAR THE FRONT ALL DAY LONG. TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE.
“Anytime you come to a road course you never know what’s going to happen and obviously there are a lot more guys out there that had really fast race cars and got wrecked, so survival is always key to get through these things. Our Shell-Pennzoil Ford was about where we finished. I felt like our strategy worked out decent. It wasn’t stellar, but we didn’t catch the cautions perfectly as some guys did. I could have done a little better job on the restarts earlier in the race, but, overall, seventh out of a kind of crapshoot – you never know what’s gonna happen – so to get seventh and have a solid points day was important for our goal of getting in the Chase. We’ll take this and try to win at Michigan. We had a really fast car at Michigan the last time and I really want to win there. I feel like if we can get a win, we have a really good shot at getting in this Chase. If not, we did make up some valuable points today.”
CHEEZ-IT 355 At The Glen at Watkins Glen International (2.45-mile road course, Watkins Glen, N.Y.)
Sunday, August 11, 2013
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Driven By Joey Logano
Start Position: 9
Finish Position: 7
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 16
THE RACE REVIEW
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
· Joey Logano qualified the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the ninth position for Sunday’s CHEEZ-IT 355 at The Glen.
· Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon devised a plan to complete the race on two pit stops. A couple of early cautions made their two-stop plan even more of a reality.
· Early in the race, Logano reported that the No. 22 Ford was handling very tight, especially in turn two and through the carousel on the classic road course. Gordon and the Shell-Pennzoil team made a number of adjustments on the first stop to counter this handling condition.
· For most of the afternoon, Logano ran between 10th and 15th place. Then, during the second and final stop of the day, which came before most of the other leaders, Gordon called for a change to loosen up the No. 22 Ford Fusion. After the adjustment, Logano and the Shell-Pennzoil Ford were as fast as they’d been all day long.
· As the green-flag pit stops were cycling through, the caution flag was displayed. Logano found himself positioned eighth on the race restart.
· Logano was able to race into the seventh position and he held onto the spot through a number of late-race cautions, as he earned his third-straight top-10 finish.
· Logano gained another position in the series point standings with the strong result and he is now ranked 16th, just 27 points outside of the top 10 with four races to go until the Chase.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
JOEY LOGANO
YOU WERE ABLE TO STAY NEAR THE FRONT ALL DAY LONG. TALK ABOUT YOUR RACE.
“Anytime you come to a road course you never know what’s going to happen and obviously there are a lot more guys out there that had really fast race cars and got wrecked, so survival is always key to get through these things. Our Shell-Pennzoil Ford was about where we finished. I felt like our strategy worked out decent. It wasn’t stellar, but we didn’t catch the cautions perfectly as some guys did. I could have done a little better job on the restarts earlier in the race, but, overall, seventh out of a kind of crapshoot – you never know what’s gonna happen – so to get seventh and have a solid points day was important for our goal of getting in the Chase. We’ll take this and try to win at Michigan. We had a really fast car at Michigan the last time and I really want to win there. I feel like if we can get a win, we have a really good shot at getting in this Chase. If not, we did make up some valuable points today.”