News

THE RACE

Lilly Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile speedway, Speedway, Ind.)
Saturday, July 26, 4:30 PM ET
    
THE CAR
 
The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
Driven by Joey Logano

THE NEWS AND NOTES
    
The No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang
    
· BACK TO DOUBLE DUTY: Joey Logano will return to racing in both the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and Sprint Cup Series races this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His most recent Nationwide Series event saw Logano finish sixth in the Discount Tire Mustang at Daytona. Logano is still looking for his first NNS win of the season and extending his streak of six-straight seasons with at least one NNS win.

· 22 TEAM BACK IN THE HUNT:  Ryan Blaney’s ninth-place finish at Chicagoland last weekend put the No. 22 Team Penske team back in the chase for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Owners’ Championship. The team, which is looking for its second-straight Owners’ Championship, is just five points behind the No. 54 from Joe Gibbs Racing.

· FORMER BRICKYARD SUCCESS:  “Kissing the bricks” is something that the No. 22 Discount Tire team has experienced before at Indy.  Brad Keselowski won the inaugural NNS race at the Brickyard in 2012, giving team owner Roger Penske his first win at Indianapolis in a stock car. Logano will be hoping to replicate that feat in 2014 after finishing third at the Brickyard last season.

· THURSDAY APPEARANCES: Fans will get two chances to meet Logano in the Indianapolis area on Thursday afternoon. Logano will be making an appearance at the Discount Tire store at 120 Avon Village Parkway in Avon at 3:30pm ET on Thursday afternoon and following that up with another appearance at the Ashley Furniture HomeStore at 733 Loews Boulevard in Greenwood from 6:00pm to 8:00pm ET.
    

THE Q & A

JOEY LOGANO, NO. 22 DISCOUNT TIRE FORD

THE NO. 22 TEAM IS RIGHT BACK IN THE HUNT FOR THE OWNERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP. HOW CAN YOU CAPITALIZE ON THIS?

“We just need to go out there and keep doing what we have been doing.  We know that all teams and all drivers are going to run into some bad races now and then. The 54 team had a bad race in Chicago and the same could happen to us any other weekend. But we now find ourselves in a position to get right back in the chase for this Owners’ Championship, and we need to capitalize on it. We just need to go out there and win races.  We aren’t going to concern ourselves with what other teams are doing. We are just going to do our thing, and the rest will take care of itself.”

YOUR LAST TWO NNS RACES, YOU’VE HAD A SHOT TO WIN LATE IN THE RACE BUT HAVEN’T. DOES THAT FRUSTRATE YOU OR MOTIVATE YOU?

“I mean, you always want to win. We just need to finish it off.  We should have won at Michigan but got a flat tire, and I was in a position to win at Daytona and I just made my move for the lead too early at the end. It is always frustrating when you are fast enough to win and don’t, but you don’t let that carryover to another weekend. You can’t, or it will ruin your chances at winning the next weekend.  When a new race weekend starts, it’s exactly that, a new race weekend and that’s how you treat it.”