LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway Race Report
July 10, 2010- 1. David Reutimann, No. 00 Toyota
- 2. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford
- 3. Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Chevrolet
- 19. Joey Logano, No. 20 The Home Depot Toyota
The Home Depot Team Settles for 19th Place at Chicagoland Speedway
Joliet, Ill. (July 10, 2010) – Joey Logano and the No. 20 The Home Depot Team battled through a disappointing night at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday. Excited for the start of the race after solid practice sessions on Friday, the team encountered handling issues from the drop of the green flag and had to settle for a 19th-place finish when all was said and done.
"I really thought our Home Depot Toyota was going to be a lot better than it was tonight," Logano said. "It didn't feel anything like it did on Friday. We weren't any good at the start of a run and the car did get better on a long run, but it wasn't anywhere close to how it handled on Friday. I just don't understand what happened."
Logano qualified 18th for the race and was disappointed with the qualifying effort after enjoying successful practice sessions at the track on Friday afternoon. With the car performing well in race-trim during practice, the team had high expectations for the race. The word "tight" would become a familiar phrase as it was used throughout the race while Logano battled the handling condition from start to finish.
Problems surfaced early in the race for the team when Logano had a hard time getting the car to turn, particularly at the start of a run. On the plus side, the handling did improve to an extent the longer a run continued. During the first two stops of the night the team only made air pressure adjustments anticipating that as night settled over the track the handling conditions would change on the No. 20 The Home Depot Toyota. That is exactly what happened, only the handling conditions worsened as dusk transitioned to dark and the race continued.
The team made its third pit stop of the night during the second caution of the race on lap 129, once again only slightly adjusting the air pressure on the car, adding four tires and fuel. Racing resumed with The Home Depot Toyota handling the poorest it had all night. Logano reported a complete lack of grip on the restart and that the car was now the tightest it had been all night. As a result he slid from 16th position to 24th during the next 50 laps. Caution waved on lap 179 and the team made wholesale changes to the Home Depot Toyota by removing the wedge, making chassis adjustments, air pressure adjustments and more.
When racing resumed Logano was in 20th position and although the car did take off better, it still had a long way to go. Logano was in 21st position when the last round of pit stops took place during green-flag race conditions on lap 232. The team made another wedge adjustment, changed four tires and added fuel. Logano went on to pick up two more positions during the final 35 laps of the race but not before losing a lap to eventual race winner David Reutimann.
The finish dropped Logano a position in the point standings. He is in 19th place and is 183 points out of 12th place – the cutoff position to be part of the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. Logano's Joe Gibbs Racing Denny Hamlin scored a hard-fought 8th -place finish while Kyle Busch also battled severe handling issues and finished the night in 17th place.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series enjoys a weekend off from racing next week. In two weeks the series travels to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 25. ESPN/ABC takes over the broadcast of the Sprint Cup Series and will have live coverage of the racing action that is scheduled for a 1 p.m. ET start.
