The Brickyard 400, Indianapolis Motor Speedway
July 25, 2010- 1. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet
- 2. Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Chevrolet
- 3. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford
- 9. Joey Logano, No. 20 The Home Depot Toyota
Logano Rallies at The Brickyard Again, Finishes Ninth after Starting 43rd
INDIANAPOLIS (July 25, 2010) – Joey Logano and The Home Depot Team showed patience and perseverance at The Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. A blown engine in practice on Friday sent them to the back of the 43-car field for the start of the race and the team battled all day in traffic to finish the prestigious event in the ninth position.
"I'm really proud of everyone today," said Logano. "The Home Depot just didn't take off as good as we needed to in the beginning of the race. That first wreck – I didn't get in it, but I ran over a brake rotor. It popped up and hit the front end. It left a bunch of scratches on the grill. We took two tires at one point and learned a lot about having to be on the bottom of the race track. That will definitely help next time we come here, for sure. We finally got the car the best it was at the end. Maybe one more little adjustment might have helped, but it was a solid run for us especially since we started dead last. We tuned on the car all day and were the best when it counted at the end."
The No. 20 Home Depot Team had to make an engine change on Friday which forced Logano to the rear of the field for the start of the race. Shortly after the green flag waved a multi-car incident broke out in front of Logano. With the guidance of his spotter, Logano maneuvered his way through but had debris and grass covering up the grill on the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. He pitted to have the grill cleaned and fresh tires put on, however all the debris was not removed from the track and a brake rotor hit the right front of the car after he pulled off pit road. Logano pitted again and restarted the race in the 33rd position on lap seven.
Logano showed the strength of his Toyota Camry early and was up to the 20th position when the caution waved on lap 14 for a blown tire on the No. 7 car. Logano pitted for right-side tires and a track bar adjustment to try and gain a valuable track position. The two-tire call moved Logano up to 10th for the restart on lap 20. The gamble worked for only a short time as Logano slid back through the field. He was sitting in the 20th position again on lap 28.
Dirty air and traffic made The Home Depot Toyota extremely tight in the center of the corner and off the corner for Logano. Crew chief Greg Zipadelli continued to adjust the car to free it up for his pilot throughout several pit stops. At the midpoint of the 160-lap race, Logano was sitting in the 17th position. He told Zipadelli to make a big change, so under green-flag conditions on lap 97 Logano drove the No. 20 Toyota down pit road for a trackbar adjustment, tires, fuel and to have a spring rubber removed from the left rear. The change actually freed up the car too much, but Logano was happy with its handling.
The caution flag waved on lap 115 for debris, and The Home Depot Team went back on the trackbar adjustment during the pit stop. Racing resumed on lap 121 with Logano running in the 20th position. The changes clearly improved the handling as Logano was up in the 14th position on lap 128. The caution waved again on lap 139 and Zipadelli called Logano into the pit for four tires, while several of the leaders elected to take two. Racing resumed on lap 142, and by lap 143 Logano was 11th. The final caution flag waved on lap 145 and Logano remained on the track. The green flag waved with 11 laps to go and Logano was able to pass the No. 5 car of Mark Martin and the No. 2 car of Kurt Busch to take the checkered flag in the ninth position. It was his eighth top 10 of the season.
Logano's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finished eighth and 15th respectively. Logano remains 19th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, 205 points out of the top 12 and just 58 points out of 15th. Next up for the Sprint Cup Series is the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, next Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN.
