Joey Logano started 11th and finished fourth in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday afternoon in an event that was slowed by 10 caution periods. Logano moved inside the top-10 early and ran there throughout the 300-mile event while battling a car that was tight for the majority of the races’ opening 200 miles. Crew chief Greg Erwin utilized four pit stops by the Discount Tire crew to steadily improve the handling of the Ford Mustang throughout the event. Logano parlayed the adjustments and improved handling to his advantage when he passed eventual race winner Kyle Busch on a restart at lap 115, leading the event for two laps. Logano was one of only seven drivers to lead the event, and only driver to pass Busch for the lead outside of green flag pit stop cycles. Erwin called the No. 22 Mustang to pit road at lap 147 for the third pit stop of the afternoon, making air pressure adjustments. However, several competitors stayed out trapping the front runners a lap down when the caution was displayed for the seventh time at lap 157. Logano utilized the wave-around to regain the lap and joined the back of the field for the ensuing restart. As expected, the yellow flag trend continued as six competitors tangled at lap 164. From there, the team would begin strategizing for final adjustments which would come at lap 171. On the ninth restart of the afternoon, Logano received minor damage to the right front of the Discount Tire Ford, which resulted in a final stop to repair the damage. The team would restart in the seventh position and spend the closing laps working back to the top-five, ultimately bringing home the fourth place result. Logano commended the Discount Tire crew on the cool-down laps for their continued efforts at improving the No. 22 Ford throughout the afternoon.

“That was a lot of fun there at the end with Larson. It was an up and down day for our Mustang. I led a lap. I passed the 18 car for a second which is amazing. It felt good for a lap until he passed me back. I don’t know. We had a lot of ups and downs and we got to where we put tires on and went back to 12th, then got up to 6th, then back to 12th and ended up 4th. I would say we maximized our day with the car we had. I am proud of that part but we still are searching for a little bit of speed. We need to get a little faster.”