Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway Race Report
April 10, 2010- 1. Ryan Newman , No. 39 Chevrolet
- 2. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet
- 3. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
- 10. Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota
Logano and The Home Depot Team Finish Top 10 at Phoenix, Now Sit 11th in Point Standing
Avondale, Ariz. (April 10, 2010) – Joey Logano and The Home Depot Team earned their fourth top-10 finish of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday. The team qualified sixth, ran as high as second, and was running seventh before the final caution flag waved setting up another green-white-checker finish. Different tire strategies put Logano back to 12th for the final restart and he passed two cars in the closing laps to earn his first top-10 finish at the one-mile track. The effort also moved The Home Depot Team up to 11th in the standings, inside the cut off for the Chase to Sprint Cup.
"That was a good night for The Home Depot Team," said Logano. "It should've been better than 10th, we had a real good car. Before that late-race caution, we were running seventh and we were in a situation where you are damned if you do, damned if you don't with tires. We still got 10th out of it, but we were probably a seventh-place car. All in all, Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) and the guys did an awesome job with my race car this week. I was pretty pumped up about how we ran in the first part of the race. We just didn't keep up with the track as good as we probably needed to, but I won't complain about a top 10 here."
Logano qualified The Home Depot Toyota in the sixth spot for the start of the Subway Fresh Fit 600. By the time for first caution waved at lap 15, he had already moved up to the third position. Logano told crew chief Greg Zipadelli the car was a little loose in and off the corners, so The Home Depot Team made an air pressure adjustment during a routine pit stop on lap 17. Several cars elected to stay out, shuffling Logano back to 12th for the restart on lap 22. Logano showed the strength of the No. 20 Toyota when he was scored in the sixth position just one lap later when the yellow flag was displayed again.
Logano would continue to run in the top 10 and was sitting second on lap 55. He dropped back to third on lap 97 and by lap 115 there were only 27 cars remaining on the lead lap. Green flag pit stops began on lap 129 and Zipadelli called Logano down pit road on lap 131 to fix the handling issues he was now facing. The team made a wedge adjustment while Logano was on pit road to help the tight condition Logano was now feeling through the turns.
The Home Depot Toyota continued to run in the top 10, and was sitting in the ninth position at lap 200. The team continued to adjust on the car as the track conditions changed when the sun set over PIR. The tight condition worsened, but Logano now felt he was losing most of his time off the corners. He told the team that they needed to tighten up the car off the corner without making it tighter through the corner.
The caution flag was displayed on lap 215 and the crew made a wedge adjustment to help Logano off the corner. He restarted the race from the ninth position and battled side-by-side with the No. 99 car for five laps until he finally got around it. He passed the No. 29 car on lap 326 for eighth and was running seventh when the final caution flag waved on lap 371 with just four scheduled laps remaining. The entire field came down pit road, with several different strategies. Zipadelli called for four tires, while six cars elected to take two. With the time it took to clean up the track, it set up a green-white-checker finish. When racing resumed on lap 376 Logano was back in the 12th position. He was able to pass two cars in the final two laps to earn the top-10 finish.
Logano's teammates Kyle Busch, who was leading until the final caution, and Denny Hamlin finished eighth and 30th respectively. The Home Depot Team now sits 11th in the Sprint Cup standings, up three spots. Logano and the Team are just four points out of 10th and 23 points out of seventh heading to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend for the seventh race of the 2010 season.
