Logano Races to Fifth Place in Charlotte, Top Finisher for Toyota
October 17, 2009- 1. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
- 2. Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Ford
- 3. Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge
- 5. Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota
CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 17, 2009) – Joey Logano and The Home Depot Team were the picture of perseverance at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday night, overcoming an early mistake on pit road to charge back and earn their second top-five finish of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Logano was in the fifth position and battling for fourth with four-time champion Jeff Gordon when the checkered flag waved.
"This was a really good run, something that we really needed with the Home Depot Toyota," said Logano. "I screwed up in the pits early. On the first stop of the race I missed my box, put us in the back but we fought back. I couldn't catch a break all day but overall it was really fun. Jeff [Gordon] and I went hard there at the end. That's really cool. I never really got to run against Jeff at the end of a race like that for position. We were running door to door and he was on my door trying to take the air off and I was down on the bottom trying not to wreck and going as fast as I can trying to pass him. It was fun. I had a blast but came up a little short."
Logano started from the 12th position and broke into the top 10 on lap three. By lap 25, the 2009 Raybestos Rookie contender was running in the fifth spot with rain lurking in the area. NASCAR threw the yellow flag when a short shower passed over the track on lap 34. Logano brought the car down pit road on lap 36, but unfortunately overshot his pit and had to put the car in reverse to get in his pit stall. The Home Depot Team was able to perform a routine stop, but the time lost entering the pits dropped Logano back to 34th for the restart on lap 42.
Crew chief Greg Zipadelli told Logano to be patient and not to burn up the right front tire trying to get back to the front. It took Logano just 40 laps to race into the top 20 and was 19th when green-flag pit stops began on lap 88. Zipadelli called Logano down pit road on lap 91 for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to help The Home Depot Toyota turn better in the corner. The dirty air mid pack was causing a tight condition on the No. 20 Toyota Camry.
Logano battled his way back into the top 10 on lap 218 when he passed teammate Kyle Busch. He drove methodically over the next 70 laps passing competitors like Gordon and Kurt Busch to move into the fifth position on lap 285. The yellow flag waved on lap 290 and Logano pitted for four tires, an air pressure adjustment and fuel. Three cars elected to take two tires on their pit stops to drop Logano back to ninth for the restart on lap 295.
As the saying goes, "cautions breed cautions" as the yellow flag waved three times over the next 15 laps killing Logano's momentum. After the final caution flag waved on lap 312, Logano restarted from the eighth position on lap 317 with just 17 laps remaining in the race. He picked off two of his competitors quickly with the help of the double-file restarts. He battled hard with the No. 33 of Clint Bowyer and Gordon before finally passing Bowyer on lap 330. Logano battled side-by-side with Gordon over the closing laps but was unable to complete the pass around the five-time Charlotte race winner. When the checkered flag flew, The Home Depot Toyota was scored in the fifth position.
Logano now has two top-10 finishes at Charlotte Motor Speedway; he finished ninth in the 600-mile event in May. He also became just the third rookie in history to earn a top-five at Charlotte in the October race. Ironically one of the other two rookies that can claim that honor is Gordon. Logano remains 20th in the Sprint Cup Series standings, 70 points out of 18th. His Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Busch, David Gilliland (in a fourth JGR entry) and Denny Hamlin finished eighth, 25th and 42nd respectively.
The TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway is on deck next for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The race is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. EST start next Sunday. ABC will provide the live television broadcast while MRN will provide live radio coverage.
