Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Sprint All-Star Race Advance – Charlotte Motor Speedway
Friday, May 15, 2015
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion, was part of a press conference with sponsor Shell and Doug Rice of the Performance Racing Network. Logano spoke about the upcoming Coca-Cola 600 and whether or not he would ever be interested in running both the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600.
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – WHAT MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE OF MEMORIAL DAY? “Memorial Day has always been a special day. I think as any racer growing up you always remember racing on Memorial Day, and for me it’s been since six years old racing quarter midgets. That was always the big races on that weekend and obviously growing up the Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500, and then you get to participate in one of those big races – the Coca-Cola 600. But more importantly what the day actually means for our military and to see what this race track does on Memorial Day before the race, and I’m sure there will be another big one because there always seems to be one out here when we come to Charlotte before the race and make sure we honor and say thank you to our military. But it is fun. It’s a big day to be able to kind of wake up in the morning and get ready to watch the Indy 500 as you get ready to race the Coca-Cola 600, and then Doug Rice gets to do both. How cool is that? He gets to go up there and broadcast the Indy 500 and then go back and do the Coca-Cola 600 here that night. I think that’s honestly very challenging. I don’t know if they’re gonna have to give you IV’s like they give the race car drivers, but it’s a lot of talking I know that. That’s definitely gonna be an awesome opportunity to be able to go to both races. I don’t know how many people have actually done that, to even watch both of them. I’m pretty sure nobody has actually done it in broadcasting and there have only been a select few of drivers who have done it, so to have your name as one of those guys is something pretty cool.”
HOW BIG OF A DOUBLE IS IT FOR TEAM PENSKE THAT DAY? “I know how much the Indy 500 means to Roger Penske. You see it every time you walk into the shop. The first thing you do when you walk in you see a ton of Indy 500 trophies and now there are a couple Daytona 500 trophies, which is nice, but that race means a lot to him, for sure. We always root those guys on. The Indy Car shop is right inside the same shop we work out of, so there are some people that work on both cars. The machine shop obviously builds parts for both cars, so we try to be one as much as we possibly can and when we win races they have the happy hours on Mondays at 3 p.m. and everyone re-watches the race and everyone makes a little speech about what happened that race. It kind of keeps us all together as one team – NASCAR and Indy Car. It’s kind of fun because I know as a driver it makes me want to watch it even more because I feel like we’re part of one team – Team Penske. They’ve got to do their part first and then we’ve got to do our part in the Coke 600. Hopefully, it’s one of those winning weekends and it would be something really special for the whole team, especially for Roger. It’s something that I’m not sure he’s ever done before – to be able to win those two races – especially something of that caliber in the same day would be pretty neat.”
WOULD YOU CONSIDER DOING THE DOUBLE AT SOME POINT? “It’s never really crossed my mind. For me, I’ve got my hands full trying to win the Coca-Cola 600. I’ve yet to win one race, so it wouldn’t really make sense for me to try to win two. For me, NASCAR is my focus. It’s what I’ve wanted to do my whole life since I was little, and it’s an amazing opportunity here. I feel like, for me, I owe it to my team to put in 100 percent in trying to win a championship, trying to win one of the biggest races of the year this upcoming weekend, so, for me, I’m focused on one thing and that’s just winning a race here.”
TRACKS AROUND THE CIRCUIT HAVE PUT IN MORE SAFER BARRIERS SINCE KYLE BUSCH’S ACCIDENT. ARE DRIVERS FRUSTRATED AT ALL THAT IT TOOK THAT KIND OF ACCIDENT FOR THIS LEVEL OF SAFETY IMPROVEMENT? “Unfortunately, we see that a lot, not just in racing but in life. A lot of times you don’t react until you see something bad happen and you’re like, ‘Oh shoot, maybe we should have done this or should do this to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’ We’ve seen a lot of things change in our sport after Earnhardt’s crash and this sport has really come along a lot. Unfortunately, we see a lot of big gains after something goes terribly wrong. I think the race tracks have definitely looked at it a lot more. NASCAR I know is looking at it. We tested up in Dover this last week and I was up there talking with NASCAR on where we can improve our inside walls, SAFER barriers, what we can do to make that track safer. Everyone is looking at it now and I think that’s something that’s very important for our sport to at least look at it and be able to improve and make sure we don’t have a crash like that again. Like I said, unfortunately it took something like that to make it happen, but the positive is it’s happening and everyone is looking at it now and we’ll bring it to the next level.”
