Coke Zero 400 Race Preview

QUALIFYING STRONG: Last weekend in Kentucky, Joey Logano earned his fifth front-row starting spot of 2014, qualifying second behind teammate Brad Keselowski. Team Penske has excelled at the new “knockout” qualifying format in 2014 and Logano’s stats reflect that success. Through 15 races in which the format has been used, Logano has made the final round of qualifying 14 times – with Talladega as the lone exception. His average starting position in those 15 races is 5.7 and he has only qualified outside the top 10 on one occasion, also coming at Talladega. Perhaps the most impressive stat, however, is that in the 40 different qualifying sessions that have been run during those 15 races, Logano has qualified first, second or third an amazing 19 times, with the No. 22 emerging as the fastest car on eight occasions.

DAYTONA TIMES TWO: Logano will return to double duty action this weekend at Daytona, racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday night with the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion and also on Friday night in the No. 22 Discount Tire Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event.

TESTING TIME: Proving that there is no rest for the weary, Logano and the Shell-Pennzoil Ford crew were on the testing trail this week. Logano, along with teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney, spent Tuesday afternoon testing at the historic Milwaukee Mile oval in preparation for the upcoming event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Both tracks are flat, one-mile ovals.

LENDING A HELPING HAND: Logano will lend a hand to a couple of deserving causes this weekend. On Friday morning, Logano will help the NASCAR Foundation, in partnership with the Armed Forces Foundation, assemble 1,750 classroom kits that will be distributed to students in 100 schools that have families in the military. Logano will also meet with S Sgt. Christopher Lederich, the winner of the Joey Logano Foundation and Checkered Flag Foundation “Honor Your Military Hero” program. Lederich received a $5,000 donation and a VIP trip for two to the Coke Zero 400 from JLF and Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation.

HOW MUCH OF A WILD CARD DO YOU CONSIDER THE RESTRICTOR PLATE RACE AT DAYTONA THIS WEEKEND?

“Anytime that you go to a restrictor-plate track, it is somewhat of a wild card. With the new rules, we are back to pack racing and you can’t control your outcome as much as you could with the two-car tango that we did there for a couple of years. You can have the best car and get taken out in a wreck and you can have a terrible car and miss the wrecks and put yourself in a position to win it at the end. It’s all about how you position yourself and the luck that you come up with. I feel like I’ve never really gotten the finishes that I deserve at Daytona or Talladega. I always feel like I’ve run well there, but I seem to get swept up in wreck or in the wrong line at the end of the race. But that is just part of this type of racing. I really would love to go out there and win and Daytona is one of those places we all want to get a win at.”

HOW DIFFERENT IS THE KNOCKOUT STYLE OF QUALIFYING AT DAYTONA THAN ANYWHERE ELSE THE SERIES GOES?

“It’s like a little race out there honestly. I mean, you try to get in a pack and make all of the right moves. There is a lot of strategy that goes into it though. You try to find the right people to help you, normally teammates or other drivers from your same manufacturer. And you don’t want to be the first group to go, because everyone will get a draft off of you. And you need to trust the car that is running in the front of the pack, because they are leading you through everything and through the other cars as they break up. It’s definitely different. You just go out there and do your best.”