Dollar General 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval, Concord, N.C.)

No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang driven by Joey Logano

Friday, October 11, 2013

• Joey Logano and the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang team began Friday night’s 200-lap event at Charlotte Motor Speedway from the second position – only .04 seconds off the pole position – after the Friday afternoon time trials.
• Despite a Discount Tire Ford that was slightly loose at the start of the event, Logano was able to make his way to the lead at lap 8. He would relinquish the top spot to his teammate, Sam Hornish Jr., at lap 22 as the Penske Racing Fords paced the field.
• On the first pit stop of the day at lap 50, crew chief Jeremy Bullins called for a four-tire pit stop with track bar and air pressure adjustments to tighten the handling for his driver.
• Logano liked the balance on his car following the adjustments as he kept his Ford in the top five as the race moved toward the halfway point.
• Logano lost several positions on pit road while receiving his second round of adjustments at lap 90. As he raced back in the field, his No. 22 Ford was too loose in traffic, making it difficult to move his line around.
• Bullins elected to make a fuel-only pit stop, along with another track bar adjustment, at lap 113 as the team was in a fuel window to make it to the end of the race on only one more pit stop.
• Unfortunately the Discount Tire Ford was still too loose on the older tires as Logano continued to run in the seventh position when he crossed the finish line.
• With their seventh-place finish, the No. 22 Ford Mustang team dropped one spot to second in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner’s point standings. They sit four markers behind the No. 54 from Joe Gibbs Racing.

THIS TEAM IS NOT ACCUSTOMED TO FINISHING SEVENTH. WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE TONIGHT?

“It starts in practice. There was an adjustment on the car we went back and forth on. We couldn’t figure out what we wanted to do and we went down a little bit more of a risky road, but it was faster. Unfortunately it bit us. I feel like I should have known better. I feel like I steered the boat down the wrong way, so I’m mad at myself. But you win as a team and you lose as a team, but it’s just frustrating. We didn’t help ourselves anywhere today so that’s what we get. Sometimes you’ve got to try things to get better, but it’s no fun when it doesn’t work out.”