Joey Logano Races to a Top-10 at Daytona
July 6, 2013
THE RACE
The Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.)
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Start Position: 14
Finish Position: 9
Status: Running
Current Owner's Points Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Joey Logano and the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang team qualified 14th for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Daytona International Speedway.
· As is the case with most restrictor-plate tracks, Logano immediately began looking for a tandem drafting partner and found his teammate Sam Hornish Jr. By lap nine, the duo of Hornish and Logano found themselves running one-two, with Hornish leading and Logano pushing.
· The Penske Racing duo would turn out to be the dominate cars on the evening. Logano would continue to push Hornish to the lead lap after lap as the two found themselves one-two for most of the race and through the first two trips off of pit road.
· The third and final pit stop of the day saw Logano beat Hornish off pit road, allowing Logano to lead a three laps before the two eventually hooked up once again to race toward the front.
· Logano and Hornish got shuffled back with just four laps to go and had to regroup during a late red-flag situation.
· After the restart for a green-white-checkered, Logano and Hornish couldn’t find each other to hook up in the tandem draft. Logano was getting a push on the outside by the No. 31 with Hornish trying to jump into the outside line in front of Logano. Unfortunately, the two could not keep up their momentum in the final half lap and Logano had to settle for a ninth-place finish.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
YOU AND SAM APPEARED TO HAVE THE FASTEST CARS ALL NIGHT LONG. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END?
“Man, that’s a frustrating finish when you know you have one of the two best cars out there and you look up at the scoreboard and see your car number in the ninth position. We were awesome out there tonight. Sam’s car and my car were just bad fast when we were working together. I was able to push him all night long and we could keep all of the other cars behind us, even when they challenged us. We just struggled on the restarts late and getting hooked up and that got us behind. Then, on that last restart, we weren’t around each other so we both kind of had to just try and get what we could. We found each other, but with only a half lap until the checkers, you just don’t have any time to hook up and make your move. With a couple of more laps, we could have gotten back up there. It’s frustrating for sure. But that is what happens in these types of races.” - Joey Logano
The Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.)
THE RESULTS
The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Start Position: 14
Finish Position: 9
Status: Running
Current Owner's Points Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Joey Logano and the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang team qualified 14th for Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Daytona International Speedway.
· As is the case with most restrictor-plate tracks, Logano immediately began looking for a tandem drafting partner and found his teammate Sam Hornish Jr. By lap nine, the duo of Hornish and Logano found themselves running one-two, with Hornish leading and Logano pushing.
· The Penske Racing duo would turn out to be the dominate cars on the evening. Logano would continue to push Hornish to the lead lap after lap as the two found themselves one-two for most of the race and through the first two trips off of pit road.
· The third and final pit stop of the day saw Logano beat Hornish off pit road, allowing Logano to lead a three laps before the two eventually hooked up once again to race toward the front.
· Logano and Hornish got shuffled back with just four laps to go and had to regroup during a late red-flag situation.
· After the restart for a green-white-checkered, Logano and Hornish couldn’t find each other to hook up in the tandem draft. Logano was getting a push on the outside by the No. 31 with Hornish trying to jump into the outside line in front of Logano. Unfortunately, the two could not keep up their momentum in the final half lap and Logano had to settle for a ninth-place finish.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
YOU AND SAM APPEARED TO HAVE THE FASTEST CARS ALL NIGHT LONG. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END?
“Man, that’s a frustrating finish when you know you have one of the two best cars out there and you look up at the scoreboard and see your car number in the ninth position. We were awesome out there tonight. Sam’s car and my car were just bad fast when we were working together. I was able to push him all night long and we could keep all of the other cars behind us, even when they challenged us. We just struggled on the restarts late and getting hooked up and that got us behind. Then, on that last restart, we weren’t around each other so we both kind of had to just try and get what we could. We found each other, but with only a half lap until the checkers, you just don’t have any time to hook up and make your move. With a couple of more laps, we could have gotten back up there. It’s frustrating for sure. But that is what happens in these types of races.” - Joey Logano