• Joey Logano started first and finished eighth in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. Logano overcame handling issues on the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang as his team made major chassis adjustments throughout the race and the car finally came alive in the closing stages to earn a top-10 finish.
• After starting from the pole, Logano led the opening 15 laps prior to the competition caution. The Shell-Pennzoil Ford remained on the track during the first caution as Logano maintained the top position on track while the team delayed making any adjustments. Unfortunately, the handling began to deteriorate on the Shell-Pennzoil Ford and Logano dropped to 18th before the end of the first stage. During the caution period at the end of the opening stage, the No. 22 crew made wedge and air pressure adjustments to the Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang.
• During the second stage, Logano continued to battle the loose-handling condition that surfaced on the No. 22 Mustang late in the opening stage. Logano was unable to advance farther than the 15th position as he told the team that he needed more entry security for the remainder of the race. Logano fell to the 19th position before the end of the second stage.
• Under the Stage 2 ending pit stop, the Shell-Pennzoil crew adjusted the trackbar and air pressure on the No. 22 Ford, hoping to give Logano the entry security he needed to compete with the race leaders. The adjustments allowed Logano to quickly jump forward to the 10th position on the restart before a caution flag slowed the field. Another caution at lap 106 cleared the way for Logano to return to pit road and gave the Shell-Pennzoil crew an opportunity to further refine the handling of the No. 22 Mustang.
• Logano continued to run inside the top-10 as the laps wound down on the final stage. Logano pitted for four tires and an air pressure adjustment late in the race while many of the lead-lap cars remained on track. From there, Logano battled forward from the 21st position. Another caution set up a race restart with nine laps remaining and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Mustang lined up in the 20th position.
• During a subsequent restart, Logano moved inside the top-10 before another caution sent the race into NASCAR Overtime. Logano continued his forward march as he brought the Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang home in eighth place for his 10th top-10 result of the season.

 

“It was a good recovery. A little bit of practice this week would have been nice. That was one of the loosest and out of control race car I have had. At the start of this race. The clean air made us look better than what we were. As soon as I lost clean air I was just trying to hang on. Unfortunately I collected a lot of damage along the way on the back bumper from everyone hitting me. I don’t blame them, I was in the way. Over time, by probably the beginning of the third stage we got close. Not quite to where we needed to. Then there at the end we pitted and may have gotten to the other side of it finally. At least we know where the edge is so we can work on it for tomorrow. We got a top-10 out of it. If you had told me we were going to finish eighth after the first 50 laps of this thing I would have taken it but greed always sets in and you want a little more there at the end. We got our Mustang for tomorrow and we got to the other side of it. We should be in the ballpark.”