Joey Logano started 39th and finished in the 10th position with the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in Sunday afternoon’s ISM Connect 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Logano and his team missed the final practice session on Saturday afternoon as they served a penalty for pre-qualifying technical inspection issues on Friday; however, the team would press on, determined to overcome the major setback of the lost practice session. From the drop of the green flag, Logano set his sights on the front of the field and methodically gained positons throughout the first stage. Logano reached the top-15 by lap 40, despite the race running green for the entire opening stage. At the stage break Logano reported his Ford Fusion to be only slightly loose on corner entry and exit, and minimally tight in the center of the turns. Crew chief Todd Gordon adjusted with air pressure, sending the team back on the track in the 12th position, one spot better than where they had finished the opening stage. In the second stage, Logano continued in the 12th position battling a lack of forward drive-off and entry security. Gordon would again elect to adjust with air pressure at the stage break, sending Logano back to the track where he’d battle his way forward to the 10th positon. As the run continued, Logano reported that the adjustments hadn’t helped, and the team elected to go back on the changes on the stop at lap 222. Unfortunately, Logano had to check-up late coming into his box to avoid another competitor, and the team was assessed a penalty for a crewmember over the wall to early. The penalty dropped Logano to the 16th position where he’d again be forced to battle back in the closing 75 laps to finish in the 10th position. The finish marked the 150th top-10 of Logano’s career in his 319th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

“We worked our way up into the top 14 or 15 the first run from last and that was the highlight, and then we just kind of stayed right there around 10th the rest of the day and finished there. I don’t know, you can say if we started a little closer to the front we could hold a few of them off, but we’re just not fast enough really. I sound like a broken record, but we’re just not fast enough.”