Team Penske NASCAR XFINITY Series Race Report
Track: Chicagoland Speedway
Race: Drive Safe 300
Date: September 17, 2016
No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – Joey Logano
Start: 9th
Finish: 7th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 200/200
Laps Led: 5
Owner’s Points Position: 4th (-54)
Recap: Joey Logano started ninth, led laps and finished seventh in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang for Team Penske in Saturday afternoon’s Drive Safe 300 and the Chicagoland Speedway. Logano brought excitement to the race early as he went three wide for position twice in the opening two laps of the race working his way toward the top-five. Logano battled a car that was tight on the bottom and loose on the top of the track throughout the first run. On the first pitstop at lap 26, crew chief Greg Erwin called for minor adjustments to the No. 22 Ford, not wanting to upset the relative good balance of the car. On the ensuing run the car got progressively looser over the long run, so when the team pitted again, they adjusted to give Logano a tighter handling Ford Mustang in hopes that it would come to him over the longer runs. Logano worked his way back inside the top-10 and on a cycle of pit stops the team elected to leave him on the track having pitted less than 10 laps earlier. Logano restarted from the lead and held of the No. 18, which dominated the event, for five laps. However, the tight condition that was created, remained for the rest of the event and the team would get one final shot at making adjustments on a lap 182 stop. On the final stop, crew chief Greg Erwin called for aggressive air pressure and wedge adjustments to fix the handling for the dash to the checkered flag. Logano worked the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang back inside the top-10 and brought home a seventh place result in what was a challenging race.
Quote: “That was probably the best we were going to finish, seventh. We just struggled today. I don’t know. We were kind of weak in every department today. We were just slow. It is all we can do to qualify ninth and all we can do to run there as well. That is not what we do, so we need to figure it out. I honestly don’t know what to say about it. We have some work to do to get it better, but I am confident we will.”
