No. 20 Home Depot Toyota News & Notes:
· LOOKING TO CONTINUE ROAD COURSE IMPROVEMENT: When Joey Logano first broke through in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he was not considered a very good road racer. However, with a few years of road racing in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series, some great mentoring from road race veteran Max Papis and a couple of road race schools, Logano has become quite proficient on NASCAR’s left and right turn circuits. Earlier this season, Logano scored a top-10 finish at Sonoma and has finished in the top-10 in his last three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series road course events (both Sonoma and Watkins Glen in 2011, Sonoma in 2012). He also has a road course pole, which came at Sonoma last season while his best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish on a road course is fifth, which came last year at The Glen. Logano’s success on the road courses hasn’t only been in the Sprint Cup Series either. He has finished second and third the last two seasons in the Nationwide Series event at Watkins Glen.
· SPENDING SOME TIME AT VICTORY JUNCTION: Logano will spend some time this week visiting the campers of Victory Junction Gang Camp in Randleman, NC as part of the camp’s annual NASCARnival celebrations. Logano will head to the camp with several members of his No. 20 Home Depot Racing crew on Tuesday and participate in the camp’s carnival night. Members of the No. 20 Home Depot team will perform a live pit stop and teach members of the camp to do the same. Logano will also participate in the number of other activities during the “pirate” themed event. Built in honor of Adam Petty, Victory Junction provides life-changing experiences for kids with chronic medical conditions and serious illnesses. Victory Junction has enriched the lives of more than 14,000 children and families since opening in 2004 and welcomed children from 50 states and four countries.
· A BUSY WEEK BEFORE “THE GLEN”: In addition to spending the day and night at Victory Junction on Tuesday, Logano will also be traveling up and down the road, literally, and flying back and forth across the country this week. Logano will partake in the annual Parade of Power for Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday. The Parade of Power consists of one vehicle from every car that will race at CMS during the late summer/fall and it driven down Bruton Smith Blvd. at high noon from Concord Mills Mall to the front of Speedway’s main entrance. The track will then host a press conference and autograph session with Joey and the other drivers that will be in attendance and invite fans out to take in the festivities. Logano then will fly to San Antonio, TX to take part in a sponsorship dinner before heading back to North Carolina just in time to travel to Watkins Glen.
· BACK TO DOUBLE DUTY WEEKEND: In the heart of the season, Logano has been taking some NASCAR Nationwide Series races off to focus on his Sprint Cup Series program. This weekend though, Logano will be back to double duty, driving in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series events at Watkins Glen. Logano notes that the extra race will give him much needed track time on the seven-turn, 2.25-mile road course.
· WEEKEND APPEARANCES: In addition to his appearance at Wednesday’s Parade of Power at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Logano will be making a couple of appearances this weekend at Watkins Glen. He will be at the Toyota Pit Pass in the vendor midway from 9:15-9:40am on Sunday morning and will follow that up with an autograph session at his souvenir hauler starting at 9:45am.
· RACE INFO: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Watkins Glen International (Watkins Glen, NY; 2.25-mile road course) is set for Sunday, August 12th at 12pm ET. The race will be broadcast on ESPN (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
22
1
2
7
1
51
$2,530,378
12.7
16.9
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
132
2
16
36
4
198
$16,791,248
17.7
18.8
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats at Watkins Glen International:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
3
0
1
1
0
0
$319,391
22.0
18.0
From the Cockpit:
Joey Logano Quotes: “It’s always a lot of fun to go back to the road course races. It gives you a little break from the regular oval events and really lets you work it. I feel like we’ve gotten a lot better over the last few years at the road courses and we are coming off of a top-five finish at Watkins Glen last season. The more I drive these road course events, the better I feel at them and the more comfortable I am. It used to be there were three or four guys who just dominated at these road courses, but really, everyone has gotten so much better and the cars keep getting better I think there are 10-15 guys, if not more, who could go out there and win at a road course. I like to think I’m in that category too.
“It also helps to be back at the track in the Nationwide Series this weekend. Every weekend, the extra track time helps you but maybe even more on these weekends. You don’t drive them exactly the same and your braking points are different, but you can still learn stuff about how to enter a corner different or how to make a pass better in this section when you have more track time. Plus, it just helps polish your skills. So I’m looking forward to Watkins Glen. I don’t think I’d be out of line to say if we have a good handling car and I don’t make any big mistakes on the track that we’ve got a really good shot at winning.”
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
