Joey Logano / No. 20 GameStop Toyota NNS Preview
Indy 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
No. 20 GameStop Toyota News & Notes:
· TAKING THE GAMESTOP TOYOTA TO THE BRICKYARD: The NASCAR Nationwide Series will make an historic stop this weekend as the series visits Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time. After years of running the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the cross-town short track, Indianapolis Raceway Park, the series will move to the famed and hallowed grounds of IMS for the first time in 2012. The race is part of a weekend triple-header between the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and Grand Am Series. The 22-year-old will have a jump on the rest of the Nationwide Series field at IMS, with three-career starts at the 2.5-mile track in the Sprint Cup Series. Many people are already calling the IMS event one of the biggest in the history of the Nationwide Series.
· LOGANO HOPING ONLY DAMAGE HE HAS IS ON THE CAR: Damage Inc., Pacific Squadron WWII will be the featured game on the No. 20 GameStop Toyota this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Damage Inc., Pacific Squadron WWII begins with the attack on Pearl Harbor and takes you through all of the real battlefields of the Pacific Theatre. With 23 historically accurate missions and 100+ mission objectives, your experience will include all the challenges that actual pilots faced – – dogfighting, torpedo and dive bombing, carrier takeoffs and landings – – in a mix of intense air-to-air, air-to-ship and air-to-ground combat. The player can dive in with simulation mode or switch to arcade mode for a different style of action. Expand your gaming experience from single-player campaign to an array of multiplayer challenges. Team up with your friends to replay all the missions in co-op mode with up to 4 players, or explore new and exclusive multiplayer modes like “Scratch One Flattop” which pits two teams against each other in a mix of fighters and bombers to see who can sink the other team’s aircraft carrier first. Damage Inc., Pacific Squadron WWII will ship in 2012 and be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
· LOOKING TO START ANOTHER STREAK: With Joey’s fifth-place finish at Daytona International Speedway a couple of races ago, he snapped his streak of two-straight NASCAR Nationwide Series wins, something he’s already done twice this year (Logano won back-to-back starts at Talladega and Darlington and then again at Dover and Michigan). Still, if you look at Logano’s record in the Nationwide Series in 2012, there is no driver that has done more with his limited starts. Logano has won five races (matching a career high which he also set in 2009) and has won four of his last six starts. Logano has only three finishes outside the top-10, one of those being at Daytona in February where he was leading coming out of turn four before getting spun from behind and wrecked. In addition, Logano has won three poles and led a total of 468 laps, the second highest total of his career.
· 100 STARTS INTO NNS CAREER, LOGANO’S STATS RIVAL BUSCH’S: At Daytona a couple of weeks ago, Logano took the checkers in fifth and completed his 100th-career NASCAR Nationwide Series event. In the Nationwide Series, Logano has often been compared to his Sprint Cup Series teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing and the all-time wins leader in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Kyle Busch. In fact, the two drivers have put on some epic in-race battles over the years in the Nationwide Series. Looking at the stats of both Logano’s and Busch’s first 100 starts in the Nationwide Series is eye opening. In his first 100 races, Logano has 14-career victories to Kyle’s eight in his first 100 starts. Logano earned 48 top-five finishes while Busch earned 30 top-fives over the course of their first 100 races. Logano has a remarkable 78 top-10 finishes while Busch had 48 top-10s in his first 100 NNS starts. Logano has 19 poles and Busch accumulated 10. Logano has averaged a 7.1 starting position and a 7.4 finishing position over the course of his first 100 starts, while Busch averaged a 10.3 starting position and a 15.2 finishing position.
· LOGANO NOT THE ONLY TEAM MEMBER WITH IMS EXPERIENCE: While Logano has competed in three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he won’t be the only member of the No. 20 GameStop team that has experienced the famed “Brickyard” before. Logano’s crew chief, Adam Stevens spent several years as race engineer on the No. 20 Home Depot Sprint Cup Series team with Tony Stewart and Logano as the driver before moving over to crew chief the No. 20 NNS car. During his years with the Sprint Cup Series team, Stewart won two Brickyard 400s and Stevens was right there to kiss the bricks each time.
· THE RACE: The Indy 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Speedway, IN; 2.5-mile oval) is set for Saturday afternoon, July 28, 2012. The race will be broadcast on ESPN at 4:00 p.m. ET, with radio coverage on the IMS Radio Network.
Logano’s 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
12
5
7
9
3
468
$403,600
6.9
6.4
Logano’s Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
100
14
48
78
19
1,921
$3,462,934
7.1
7.4
Logano’s Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
Starts
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Poles
Laps Led
Earnings
Avg. Start
Avg. Finish
3
0
0
1
0
0
$586,939
24.0
15.3
From the Cockpit:
Joey Logano Quotes: “I think like everyone else, I’m pretty pumped to get to the Brickyard and get to run double duty with the Sprint Cup cars and the Nationwide Series cars. Indianapolis is such a special track for so many people. When you pull out there on any practice or qualifying run, it’s always in the back of your mind that you are pulling out onto one of the greatest racetracks in the country. So to be able to bring the Nationwide Series cars over here to the big track is cool. Everyone always really enjoyed running at IRP and the Nationwide Series cars put on a good show there, but getting to run at Indianapolis will be really special to all of the Nationwide Series guys that haven’t run there before.
“I’m not really sure what kind of a show the NNS cars will put on. Me and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) have talked about a few different scenarios, but we will really see after practice on Thursday. All I know is that it would be really special to win the first NNS race at Indy. It’s always special to win at a track and to win at the first race is even better. Plus, just to win at Indy would be amazing. I said that about winning at Daytona and Darlington. Those were two tracks that it just felt great to win at. Indy would be on that list for sure.”
From the Pit Box:
Adam Stevens Quotes: “Indy is the biggest race in the history of this series as far I’m concerned. We are bringing our best piece, car number 139. It is two for two this year so far with wins at California and Michigan. Joey is good here in the Cup car too. We had a good meeting this week about what he looks for in a car there. I love Indy and have had the good fortune of kissing the bricks twice there with the Home Depot team. The layout of the track is unique. No one has any old notes to go back to. The teams that can adapt the quickest and make the best use of the four and a half hours of practice are going to be up front. It is extremely difficult to pass there so pit stops and qualifying will be a little more important than usual. Pit strategy will also come into play in the race. With the long straights and relatively low horsepower and high drag of the Nationwide Series cars, I expect there to be a lot of drafting on the straights. It will be quite a show I’m sure.”
No. 20 GameStop Toyota / Joe Gibbs Racing Team:
Driver – Joey Logano Crew Chief – Adam Stevens Car Chief – Heath Landis Race Engineer – Curtis Ratzlaff Shock Specialist – Joel Weidman Front-end – Dave Rudy Rear-end – Chris “Yoshi” Jones Tire Specialist – Glen Wheeler Engine Tuner – Peter Jellen
Truck Driver – Tim Clancy Spotter: Rocky Ryan
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
