The Home Depot Team Notes of Interest
· Joey Logano is searching for that illusive first top-10 finish of the 2011 season and hopes to find it at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. this weekend. Auto Club Speedway has been one of Logano’s most consistent tracks on the circuit. He has four starts at the two-mile track and has completed all but one lap of competition. He has one top-five and two top-10 finishes and an average finishing position of 14th.
· About the last race: Logano and The Home Depot Team had another frustrating finish at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday. Logano consistently improved throughout the 500-lap race, but a right-front tire issue with less than 30 laps to go forced him down pit road under green-flag conditions. The blown tire dropped him from the top 10 to the 23rd position.
· The Home Depot Team is currently tied for 29th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings following the race at Bristol. The team has accumulated 74 points so far this season and sits 49 points out of the series top 10.
· Welcome aboard The Home Depot associates from store #405 from Glendale, Ariz. The store number will ride along with Logano this weekend for the 200-lap race.
· Logano will be competing in the Cup Series and Nationwide Series races this weekend. Before climbing behind the wheel of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota on Sunday, Logano will once again race the No. 20 Toyota in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event on Saturday. Logano has one win, four top-five and five top-10 finishes in just five starts in the Nationwide Series at the Fontana, Calif.-based track.
· The No. 20 Home Depot Team is taking chassis #287 for Logano this weekend for the Auto Club 400. The team raced this chassis to a seventh-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October and to a fourth-place finish at Texas in November. The back-up chassis is chassis #284 which Logano drove last year at Auto Club Speedway to an 11th-place finish and at Phoenix International Raceway in November to third.
· To access information on The Home Depot Team visit: www.joegibbsracing.comand follow twitter.com/homedepotracing, twitter.com/joegibbsracingand twitter.com/jlogano.
Logano Quotes on Auto Club Speedway: “There is a ton to think about during a race at Auto Club. It’s a pretty cool race track. There is so much room out there to race and you can draft down the straight-aways. It’s starting to wear out so it’s pretty bumpy. But the craziest thing about it by far is the restarts, a good restart is huge. When the flag goes in the air, people are four and five-wide. You can gain and lose five spots before you get through the first turn, not the first lap, but the first turn.” Logano Quotes on the Season: “It’s been tough this season. I know the results don’t show it, but I really believe we are running better now than we were last year. Every time I think the bad luck is out of the way, something happens. Last weekend we were down 150 horsepower then the wheel broke. But the good thing is the performance is there and we know what we are capable of doing. We are now to the point where we can’t afford to have another bad race or we will never get the points back. I think with how fast the cars have been we can still make it into the top 10 before Richmond.”
No. 20 Home Depot Team Primary Team Members: Crew Chief – Greg Zipadelli Car Chief – Jason Shapiro Engine Builder – Mark Cronquist
Lead Engineer – Jacob Canter Engine Specialist – Michael Johnson Spotter – Mark Robertson Over-The-Wall Crew Members: Jackman – Jason Tate Front Tire Changer – John Royer Front Tire Carrier – Brett Morrell Gas Man – John Eicher Rear Tire Changer – Coleman Dallarhide Rear Tire Carrier – Eric Groen Other Crew Members: Truck Drivers – Tom McCrimmon, Scott Crowell Tire Specialist – Jerold Shires Shock Specialist – Dusty Boyd
Mechanics – Scott Geerts, Todd Foster Pit Support – Bill Byrne IT Support – Nathan Boone Second Engineer – Mike Lorusso
