ATL-BANNER

Start: 4th
Finish: 17th

Stage One: 4th
Stage Two: 16th

Points: 10th

race review

Joey Logano quickly made his way up to second in the running order after starting Sunday night’s Quaker State 400 from the outside of row two and settled in behind the leader for the opening run. Logano reported a loose handling condition on both corner entry and exit when the first caution flag flew on lap 16. He and teammate Ryan Blaney ran nose-to-tail from the second and third positions, respectively, on the ensuing restart before Logano made the move around the No. 10 for the lead on lap 39 – the first of 11 laps led on the night. Logano and Blaney battled side-by-side on the final lap of the opening stage, but Logano was shuffled out of line on the entrance to turn three, resulting in a fourth-place finish in Stage 1. Following a four-tire stop and a round of adjustments during the stage break, Logano lined up on the inside of row two behind Blaney and pushed him to the lead and Penske teammates commanded the top three spots in the running order. The No. 22 team brought Logano to pit road for fuel only following the caution on lap 80 and worked the outside line to make his way back up to second while leading the way for the Team Penske trio. As inclement weather began to approach, Logano continued to run second with 30 laps remaining in Stage 2, but was shuffled out of the top-10 as the handling began to go away, resulting in a 16th-place finish in the second segment. After a four tire stop with another round of adjustments prior to the start of the final stage, Logano lined up 25th for the restart behind cars on differing pit strategies. Logano fought his way back into the top-20, but the rain halted his charge through the field as the race was called on lap 185 while running 16th.

quote

“Team Penske brought three really fast Ford Mustangs this weekend. We fought the handling throughout the night – just way too loose with air on the nose and it was a handful at times. We had the speed and I think it’s a different story if we were able to see how the whole race played out but we just ran out of time.”

WHAT’S NEXT: The NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 16 for the Crayon 301. Coverage begins at 2:30 pm E.T. on USA, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90..

 


QUAKER STATE 400