News

THE RACE

Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval, Bristol, TN)
Saturday, August 24, 2013

THE RESULTS

The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
Driven By Joey Logano
Start Position: 6
Finish Position: 5
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 10    


THE RACE REVIEW

· Joey Logano qualified the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford in the sixth position for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

· Logano settled into the fifth position early in the running of the 500-lap event, as he reported that his Ford Fusion needed more forward drive off the corner..

· On lap 104, Logano was following the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch when Busch got loose and hit the wall.  Logano tried to check up to avoid the incident, but he got into the back of the No. 18, which caused extensive damage to the right front fender.

· After repairing the damage, Logano restarted in 29th place and was able to race his way into the top 15. He then was assessed a speeding penalty on pit road on lap 178 during another round of stops.

· Once again, Logano had to restart the race from the back of the field in 28th place and he was able to race his way all the way up to fifth place.

· Trouble befell the No. 22 again on lap 336 when the No. 11 car blocked the Shell-Pennzoil Ford in the pits, which cost the team 10 spots on pit lane. Despite restarting 17th, Logano drove back to ninth place.

· Running under caution on lap 443, Logano reported that something was on the grill of the Shell-Pennzoil Ford and the engine was running over 300 degrees.  The team had to return to the pits to remove the debris from the grill, which placed Logano 21st on the restart with less than 50 laps to go.

· Showing the speed of his Ford Fusion, Logano raced  from 21st to fifth in less than 50 laps as he notched his seventh top-five finish of the year.

· The top-five run jumped Logano three spots in the Sprint Cup Series point standings.  He is now 10th in the standings with just two races remaining before the start of the Chase.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

JOEY LOGANO

YOU WENT FROM THE BACK TO THE FRONT SEVERAL TIMES TONIGHT. HOW WAS YOUR RACE?

“That was the hardest fought top five I’ve ever had in my life.  We had a right-front knocked in once.  We got blocked in by the No. 11 once.  We got a piece of garbage on the grill.  Every time this happened, we had to go all the way to the back, so we came from the back three times to get a top-five finish.  They can’t put us down and can’t keep us down.  This team is awesome.  We deserve to make this Chase and if we keep doing this on days that they’re trying to put us down, we deserve it.  I’m just really proud of everybody on this Shell-Pennzoil Ford team.  They’re all excited about this top five.  I feel like I had the winning car all night.  I feel like I had the fastest car and the only car that could really pass people.  We went from 20th there with 40 or 50 to go to finishing fifth.  We’re proud of that.”

WHAT DOES THI S SAY ABOUT YOUR TEAM?

“Who wouldn’t want to work for a team like that and that’s from the top down - that’s from Roger Penske.  He’s the guy that hires everyone and picks the right people and surrounds me with the people that it takes to win races and work their guts out.  He’s got me and he knows I’m going to work my guts out. This team is behind me every bit of the way, so I can’t be more pleased with what everyone did today.”