No. 20 Home Depot Toyota News & Notes:
· FRUSTRATING AND FAST CAR IN ‘DEGA: Coming into last weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, Joey Logano was the only non-Chase driver to have three-straight top-10 finishes to start the Chase. And coming into Talladega, one of his best tracks on the circuit, Logano had an easy chance to continue that streak. However, as is typical in Talladega, sometimes it’s things beyond your control that have the biggest effect on your day and such was the case for Logano. The 22-year-old got some damage when an out-of-control car wrecked into him early in the event. The damage wasn’t terminal, but Logano fell a couple of laps off the pace trying to get it fixed. Despite being able to race with the pack and make moves that would have put him in the top-five had he been on the lead lap, Logano had to ride around all day searching for the free-pass. Unfortunately a lack of cautions kept him from getting back on the lead lap and coming home with a 32nd-place finish.
· DOVER OR CHARLOTTE???: People ask Logano, and all racecar drivers, all the time “what’s your favorite racetrack.” Every one of them normally has an answer. And Logano’s answer has always been Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, after Logano’s recent sweep of Nationwide Series races and two straight top-10 finishes in the Sprint Cup Series, his answer started to switch to Dover International Speedway. But deep down, Logano love Charlotte. Joey has an average finish of 10.3 in seven-career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts (points paying races) at Charlotte, which leads all active drivers. In those seven starts, he’s earned two top-fives (third in 2011 Coke 600, fifth in fall 2009 event) and four top-10s. So despite what he says, Charlotte Motor Speedway, statistically at least, is Logano’s favorite racetrack.
· HOME SWEET HOME: As is no different then any other weekend when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway, Logano and the rest of the NASCAR drivers will be quite busy during Charlotte race week. Logano will be filming a couple of videos and doing a couple of photo shoots while still at home during the week. He will also participate in the annual Joe Gibbs Racing FanFest on Friday, October 12th. FanFest will be held from 9 am to 2 pm at the JGR headquarters in Huntersville, NC. Logano, along with teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will be available to sign autographs from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. JGR Fall FanFest promises to provide entertainment and fun for every race fan. The event will include the Home Depot Kids Workshop, a raffle with various autographed memorabilia as well as baskets stuffed with NASCAR-related items, live music provided by Dollar General’s house band “The Discounts”, an Interstate Batteries bounce house, a remote control car racing track sponsored by Food Lion, Toyota’s Pit Pass transporter, M&M’s race simulator, appearances by Miss Sprint Cup, a car and motorcycle show and several other family-friendly attractions. Tours of the race shop floor will be available every thirty minutes; starting at 9 a.m. and will run until 12 p.m. All entertainment and driver autographs are provided at no cost to fans; food and drinks will also be available for purchase.
· WEEKEND APPEARANCES: In addition to his autograph signing at JGR FanFest, Logano will be making several public appearances during the Charlotte race weekend. Logano will be at the Toyota Pit Pass on Friday afternoon from 1:30 – 2 pm. He will also participate in the Speedway Children’s Charities Track Walk at Charlotte Saturday at 1 pm. He is also scheduled to make an appearance at his merchandise hauler at 3:50 pm. All of Logano’s weekend and public appearances can be found on his official website, www.joeylogano.com.
· RACE INFO: The Bank of American 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Concord, NC; 1.5-mile oval) is set for Saturday night, October 13 at 7 pm ET. The race will be broadcast on ABC (TV) and PRN (radio).
Logano’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
30
1
2
11
1
190
$3,411,448
12.4
17.7
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
141
2
16
40
4
337
$17,672,318
17.4
18.8
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats at Charlotte Motor Speedway:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
7
0
2
4
0
24
$900,210
25.7
16.1
From the Cockpit:
Joey Logano Quotes: “I’m excited to get back to Charlotte. I mean, there is something about racing at home and then getting to spend the night in your own bed at your own house. Plus, when you get to the track, you get to see a lot of people. Sometimes it can be distracting because there are so many people that come to the race, but you really appreciate it because the guys that come are a lot of the guys that work in the shop and put in all of the hours to make your cars fast. The fans see us, our pit crews and even the mechanics that come to the race every weekend, but they don’t think of the 100s of guys that are back in the shop each and every week that work on these cars for us. So when they get to come to the track and come to the pits or even just sit in the stands, you want to run as good as you can because they don’t get to see you very often.
“Charlotte has always been one of my better 1.5-mile tracks on the schedule. I don’t know what it is about the place, but I love it. The track always changes so much during the race, so you have to really stay on top on things to keep your car handling. And track position is important at almost any track any more, but it’s always been even more important at Charlotte. The race has a chance to get strung out and that is when you want to always have the best track position possible. We learned a lot at the first Charlotte race and at a lot of the 1.5-milers since then, so I think we will unload and be a lot more competitive this weekend.”
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
