News

THE BROADCAST

TV

Saturday
7:30pm ET, Great Clips-Grit Chips 300 (ESPN)

RADIO

7:00pm ET, PRN/SiriusXM

THE CARS

No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang
Driver: Sam Hornish Jr.

No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Driver: Joey Logano

THE NEWS & NOTES

No. 12 Alliance Truck Parts Ford Mustang

• 10 LED AND 10 TO GO: Through 23 races Hornish has led the series point standings on three separate occasions for a total of 10 races. He has a six point advantage going into Atlanta with 10 races remaining in the season.
• THIRD TIME IS A CHARM: This will be just the third NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Atlanta for Hornish (2007 and 2012). His best finish came last year with a ninth-place run at the 1.5-mile track.
• PRIMARY COLOR: The No. 12 Penske Ford Mustang will once be adorned with bright yellow Alliance Truck Parts livery this weekend at Atlanta.
• WELL QUALIFIED: Hornish and the No. 12 Penske Ford team have been qualifying remarkably well this season. The former open-wheel standout has qualified in the first or second row on 10 occasions this year. In 2013, he has a NASCAR-career high two poles and average starting position of 6.6.
• GOOD ‘BAD' DAYS: One of the areas that the team has been working on is turning bad days at the track into decent results. This past weekend at Bristol, they were able to accomplish that as the team held on for a top-12 finish despite running on seven cylinders for 167 of the 250- lap race.
• CAR CHIEF FOR A RACE: This weekend long-time Penske Racing employee, Jeffrey Thousand will take-over car chief duties for Bill Henderson who has to take the weekend off to attend to family matters. Thousand, who has previously served as a car chief on Penske Racing Cup teams, most recently filled that role on the No. 48 Discount Tire Ford at Watkins Glen.

THE Q & A

SAM HORNISH JR., NO. 12 ALLIANCE TRUCK PARTS FORD MUSTANG
HOW DOES ATLANTA COMPARE TO OTHER INTERMEDIATE TRACKS?
"I love Atlanta because the surface of the track is old; it has bumps and lots of places to pass. As a driver, you have to manage your tires in order to maintain any kind of consistency over a long run. I think most of the drivers will tell you that they like racing at Atlanta for the reasons I mentioned - the track just has a lot or personality and that makes it one of the most fun and challenging places we race."

GREG ERWIN, NO. 12 ALLIANCE TRUCK PARTS FORD CREW CHIEF
WHAT CHALLENGES DOES ATLANTA PRESENT A CREW CHIEF?
"It presents numerous challenges. The biggest one is tire management. This is a race where everyone will want more tires. Since the track surface is old and rough, the tire wear is more prevalent than most of the other intermediates we visit. Over the course of a run, the speed of the car changes so drastically with tire wear that the aero balance of the car changes too and that creates challenges for driver and crew chief alike."

THE NEWS & NOTES

No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Driver: Joey Logano

• WELCOME BACK JOE: Joey Logano will return to the seat of the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Logano hasn't raced in the Nationwide Series for three weeks, last competing in Watkins Glen, where he ran the No. 48 Discount Tire Ford Mustang under the guidance of his Cup crew chief, Todd Gordon.
• 22 TO THE TOP: On the strength of a strong mid-season run, the No. 22 Discount Tire team continues to lead the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owner's Championship over the No. 54 of Joe Gibbs Racing. Once down by nearly 60 points, the No. 22 team has clawed its way back on the strength of several victories by Logano, Brad Keselowski and AJ Allmendinger. The team leads by 16 points as Roger Penske looks for his first Nationwide Series Owner's Championship.
• BULLINS IS THE MAN: Crew Chief Jeremy Bullins is proving to be one of the best wrenches in the NNS garage area. The North Carolina native has now won eight races this year as crew chief of the No. 22 with three different drivers. Keselowski has won four, with Logano and Allmendinger each winning two events a piece.
• ON A ROLL IN CUP: Logano will hope to bring some of his recent magic from the Sprint Cup Series over to the Nationwide Series this weekend. Logano is riding a wave of five straight top-10 finishes in the Cup Series, including a win at Michigan just a couple of weeks ago. He currently sits 10th in the point standings.
• MEET LOGANO: Fans of the No. 22 Discount Tire team can meet and get an autograph from Logano on Friday, August 30th, at the Discount Tire store located at 11345 Tara Blvd in Hampton, GA at 11am ET.

THE Q & A

JOEY LOGANO, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD
ARE YOU EXCITED TO BE BACK IN THE CAR IN ATLANTA?
"Anytime you get to get back in a race winning car like the No. 22 has been for most of the year, it gets you pretty excited. That team and Jeremy (Bullins) have been on fire this year. I think we have the ability to go out there and win each and every time and they've proved that. Plus, it's always good to get back on the track. I don't consider Atlanta one of my best tracks, so the extra track time will help and hopefully pay off on Sunday night."

YOU HAVEN'T RACED A NNS RACE AT ATLANTA SINCE 2010. DO YOU EXPECT ANYTHING DIFFERENT?
"Well the cars and everything has changed a lot since then. I haven't raced this new style of Nationwide Series car at Atlanta, so that will be something different. But you get used to the equipment and how things drive, so it's not like it will be a lot different for me. It will take a few laps to get used to things and then it will be second nature. So I'm just looking to go out there and run as well as we can and hopefully build on this points lead in the Owner's Championship."