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[/media-credit]Joey Logano / No. 20 Home Depot Toyota NSCS Preview
FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway
No. 20 Home Depot Toyota News & Notes:
· DOVER HOLDS PLENTY OF (GOOD & BAD) MEMORIES FOR LOGANO: Dover International Speedway, conveniently nicknamed the “Monster Mile” holds a bunch of memories for Joey Logano, both good and bad. Logano wrapped up his NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Championship at Dover International Speedway in 2007, capping off a remarkable and record-breaking K&N Pro Series East that saw him win seven races over the course of the season. Logano then made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut on May 31, 2008 at Dover International Speedway, where he came home with a ninth-place start and a sixth-place finish. Logano also suffered one of the biggest accidents of his career at Dover in 2009, when he barrel-rolled his No. 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series machine a total of seven times down the banking of turns three and four and was involved in another hair-raising accident after just missing the win in last year’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event at the mile-track.
· GETTING READY FOR SOME LEFT/RIGHT ACTION: Logano and the No. 20 Home Depot team, along with several other teams, spent Tuesday testing their racecars in preparation for the upcoming Sonoma and Watkins Glen events at Virginia International Raceway. The track, located just across the border into Virginia from North Carolina and two hours from the JGR home base in Huntersville, NC, is a common destination for Cup and Nationwide teams looking to practice their road course programs. The teams planned on testing Tuesday and Wednesday at the track.
· LOOKING TO REPLICATE 2010: In six career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Dover International Speedway, Logano’s best race came in the fall event of 2010. That day, Logano started the race 19th but spent little time back there, getting his Home Depot Toyota into the top-10 and riding there for much of the afternoon. As the race was winding down, Logano made another charge toward the front and came home with a fifth-place finish. Logano also has a 10th-place finish to his credit at Dover, coming in the summer event at Dover that same season.
· STILL IN THE HUNT FOR A CHASE BERTH: Despite finishing 23rd in last week’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Logano finds himself 16th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. Logano dropped one position last week but is just 58 points out of the top-10 after 12 of 36 races.
· RACE INFO: The FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway (Dover, DE; 1-mile oval) is set for Sunday, June 3 at 12:30 pm ET. The race will be broadcast on FOX (TV) and MRN (radio).
Logano’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
12
0
0
3
0
2
$1,429,668
13.4
17.9
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
123
1
14
32
3
149
$15,690,538
18.2
19.0
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats at Dover International Speedway:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
6
0
1
1
0
1
$726,832
17.8
21.0
From the Cockpit:
Joey Logano Quotes: “We had a frustrating weekend at Charlotte but we are working hard to put that behind us and move onto Dover. We’ve got a new package that we are taking to the track and we’ve learned a lot of stuff about practice and such over the last couple of weeks. I think that is going to help us get back to the point where we were to start the year when we rattled off a couple of top-10 finishes and were right there in the top-10 in the point standings. We are working hard to turn it all around and we’ll start this weekend in Dover.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Dover which surprised some people considering most people just remember my flip there back during my rookie season. But Dover has a lot of special memories to me. It’s near home, it’s the place I made my first Nationwide Series start and I’ve been really close to some Nationwide Series wins here. It’s a fun track that just takes a lot of concentration, but you have to be aggressive too. You just have to watch yourself and not be overly aggressive though because 400-laps here is a long time. I think we will be good and I’m looking forward to the race.”
No. 20 Home Depot Toyota / Joe Gibbs Racing Team:
Driver – Joey Logano
Crew Chief – Jason Ratcliff
Car Chief – Jason Shapiro
Race Engineer – Jacob Canter
Engineer – Mike Lorusso
Spotter – Rocky Ryan
Shock Specialist – Dusty Boyd
Mechanic – Scott Geerts
Mechanic – Todd Foster
Mechanic – Leo Thorsen
Tire Specialist – Jerold Shires
Engine Tuner – Mike Johnson
Tires – Bill Byrne
Truck Driver – Thomas “Thumper” McCrimmon
Truck Driver – Scott “Scooter” Crowell
Jackman – Jason Tate
Gasman – John Eicher
Front Tire Changer – John Royer
Front Tire Carrier – Joe Crossen
Rear Tire Changer – Chris Taylor
Rear Tire Carrier – Eric Groen
