Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway Race Report
April 19, 2010- 1. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
- 2. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
- 3.Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota
- 28. Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota
Logano Gets Caught in Late Texas Wreck to Finish 28th;
Remains among the Top-12 Chase for the Championship Drivers
Fort Worth, Texas (April 19, 2010) – Joey Logano and the No. 20 Home Depot Team were poised for a top-15 finish at Texas Motor Speedway with less than 20 laps remaining when the biggest accident of the day took out The Home Depot team and many of the event's front runners. After major repairs, Logano returned to the track to score a 28th-place finish. Logano dropped only one spot in the point standings and shares the 12th position with driver Tony Stewart.
"We had a top-15 car and who knows what we would have done during the final laps," Logano said. "There were a couple of guys that we outran all day that walked out of here with top-10 finishes but, that's part of it. We still have some work to figure out for this place (TMS) but I'm looking forward to Talladega next weekend."
Having to start at the rear of the field due to an engine change at the track on Friday Logano got off to a fast start, picking up 16 positions by the time the competition caution took place on lap 25. Logano made even more progress when green-flag racing resumed on lap 32 cracking the top 25 on lap 46. Logano had raced The Home Depot Toyota to the 20th position by the time the second caution of the race waved on lap 77.
During the first several laps of the race Logano battled a tight-handling issue. Adjustments made during the first stop sent the No. 20 Home Depot car to the extreme opposite as Logano battled loose-handling conditions. Adjustments made to the car throughout the day would send the car either to the loose or tight side regardless of how minor the change was.
The one constant for The Home Depot Team was long, green-flag runs. The handling on the car would balance out the longer the car ran allowing Logano to make up positions and improve all the way into the top 15 well before the mid-point of the race.
The handling on The Home Depot Toyota continued to yo-yo between tight and loose throughout the race. Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli used varying methods to rectify the handling making wedge, track bar and air pressure adjustments. It was during a late caution on lap 310 that Zipadelli called for a more extreme change by adding a spring rubber to the right-front tire in an effort to make the car faster at the start of a run given that there would only be approximately 20 laps of racing left once racing resumed.
Logano restarted the race in 17th position on lap 316 and quickly jumped up two positions when chaos broke out less than a lap later. Contact was made between the cars of Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards which set off a chain reaction accident. Cars careened together, covering most of the track and giving Logano no time to go anywhere but into the pile of cars.
With only 17 laps remaining NASCAR put out the red flag bringing a halt to all racing action. In an effort to make repairs quicker, Logano went ahead and drove the battered Home Depot Toyota to pit road to give the team more time to assess the damage. After reviewing the car, Zipadelli had Logano drive the car behind pit wall to enable more team members to assist with the repairs. When the yellow flag was put on display the team covered The Home Depot Toyota and used only three laps to get the car ready to finish out the remaining laps of the race.
While it was a disappointing day for Logano and The Home Depot Race Team, it was a success for fellow Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Hamlin scored the win while Busch finished third. All three JGR teams are in the top 12 in the driver point standings. Busch sits sixth while Hamlin and Logano are 11th and 12th, respectively.
The team travels to Talladega Superspeedway next weekend for the second restrictor-plate race of the 2010 NASCAR season. The green flag is scheduled to wave at 12 noon CDT with FOX providing the live television coverage and MRN providing the live radio broadcast.
