theracereview
Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion team entered Sunday afternoon’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway looking to improve upon their 28th place starting position. On the first run of the event, Logano ran in the bottom half of the top-20, battling a car that was free on corner entry. Complicating matters, when Logano moved to the track’s low line he found the handling to be moderately tight. When Logano attempted to run the track’s top two-lines, which had been treated with the PJ1 Track Bite compound, he found the handling of his car to be extremely loose. On the first pit stop at lap 36, crew chief Todd Gordon elected to make a wedge adjustment. The team gained seven positions on pit road, unfortunately, an issue with fueling brought the team back down pit road, dropping them to the 28th position. On the ensuing restart, Logano received significant damage to the right front of his Ford Fusion after a multi-vehicle incident on the backstretch led to contact with the left rear quarter of the No. 72. The Shell-Pennzoil team would begin a lengthy repair process spanning multiple pit stops. On the first run following the incident, Logano was forced into preservation mode as the water and oil temperatures quickly climbed above the limits set by Roush Yates Engines. The team would have to wait for another opportunity to continue repairs to improve the engines cooling ability. Over the next several caution flag periods, the team would continue making multiple pit stops, completing repairs to the nose of the Fusion. However, the high-speeds achieved at Charlotte Motor Speedway would continue to collapse the right front, slowing the lap times Logano was able to run considerably. Nevertheless, the Shell-Pennzoil crew continued to fight throughout the race, led by Gordon and Logano, to ultimately bring home a 26th place finish.

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“Unfortunate day for our Shell-Pennzoil team to say the least. We were optimistic we’d be able to move forward from our 28th place starting position. It was a bummer to get the damage so early in the race because it really hurt our ability to move forward or really learn much today. We’ll move on to Talladega, the last two fall races there have been good for us and hopefully that’ll continue.”

Bank of America 500