Joey Logano struggled with the handling of his No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion on Sunday afternoon at Dover International Speedway, coming home with a 10th-place finish in the AAA 400 and safely transferring into the second round of the Chase of the Sprint Cup. With heavy rains all weekend long, qualifying was rained out and the series started by points, putting Logano fourth on the grid for Sunday’s 400-lap race. With just two abbreviated practices on Saturday, Logano and crew chief Todd Gordon didn’t know exactly what the handling of the Shell-Pennzoil Ford would be like when the green-flag flew. As the race got going, Logano settled into the top-five but fought a loose car that lacked drive off the corner all day long. Despite a number of changes by Gordon, Logano’s Ford Fusion didn’t improve much while the other cars around him were able to get a little better. However, Logano was able to stay solidly inside the top-five most of the afternoon. The Shell-Pennzoil pit crew did a great job, constantly gaining spots on pit road. On the final green-flag run of the day, Logano’s car got really tight and the 25-year-old slipped from fifth to 10th as the race drew to a close. Despite the disappointing finish, Logano easily transferred onto the second round of the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup, which will begin next weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“Our execution was perfect today. We had some really good pit stops and then started on the outside and was able to really run better than what our car was. The last two restarts I started on the bottom and got my butt handed to me, so the circumstance was it was really hard to pass. The cool temperatures probably aren’t good for this race track, but we get to reset now for this next round. We want to be faster and we’ve got to be faster than that to win this thing.”