Logano Earns First Top-20 Finish at Bristol Motor Speedway
Joey Logano was looking for his first uneventful race at the half-mile track in Bristol, Tenn., of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career. The first 400 of 500 laps were just that for The Home Depot Team before a speeding penalty dropped Logano from the top 10 to 22nd position follwoing a green-flag pit stop. He rallied back to finish 18th, his best finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in four starts.
"This one kills me,” said Logano. “We had a top-10 car and the guys worked on it every pit stop. We stayed out of trouble and got hit with the speeding penalty on the only green-flag stop of the night. I was surprised by it because we were in the second pit stall before the exit. I feel terrible because the guys gave me a great car. At least all four fenders are on the car and that’s a first for me at this place.”
Logano and The Home Depot Team struggled during the two practice sessions on Friday, but when it came time to qualify Logano laid down a lap quick enough to put him third on the starting grid. He fell back to seventh by lap 20 and told crew chief Greg Zipadelli the car was turning ok in the center but was losing grip the longer they ran. The caution flag waved on lap 56 and Logano brought the No. 20 Toyota down pit road for four tires, a wedge adjustment and fuel.
Racing resumed on lap 61 with Logano in the eighth position. The Home Depot Toyota was now extremely tight at the start of a run, and took almost 50 laps before Logano said it was turning well. This would be a problem that plagued Logano for most of the Irwin Tools Night Race. Zipadelli and the team continued to adjust on the chassis as well as make several air pressure adjustments during routine pit stops. Logano fell back as far as 18th on lap 230 but worked his way back into the top 10 by lap 373 during a long green-flag run.
Green-flag pit stops began on lap 385 and Zipadelli asked Logano how the car felt. Logano told his crew chief the car was the best it had been all night, and would just need a small change when he pitted under green. Zipadelli called him down pit road on lap 401 for tires and fuel and The Home Depot crew performed a flawless stop. Unfortunately NASCAR issued Logano a pass-thru penalty for too fast exiting the pits. He brought The Home Depot Toyota back down pit road to serve the penalty and fell one lap down to the leader in the 22nd position. Before Logano had time to catch up to the other cars now a lap down, the caution flag waved for debris on lap 408 leaving just 13 cars remaining on the lead lap.
Logano continued to show how quick The Home Depot Toyota was by picking up four spots before the checkered flag waved on lap 500 to finish 18th. He remains 21st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, 24 points out of the 20th position. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch took the checkered flag, sweeping all three NASCAR series victories at Bristol over the weekend. Teammate Denny Hamlin had transmission issues and finished 34th.
The Home Depot Team has its final off weekend of the season next weekend before heading to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Emory Healthcare 500 on Sept. 5. The race will be broadcast live on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET and can be heard on PRN radio.
