No. 20 Home Depot / Red Beacon Toyota News & Notes:

  • WELCOMING RED BEACON TO THE HOME DEPOT TOYOTA: Once again this weekend, the familiar orange Home Depot colors will be replaced with a new red No. 20 on the track. Redbeacon will join The Home Depot as primary sponsors of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and driver Joey Logano at Texas, as well as the remaining Home Depot race at Homestead. Redbeacon, a fully owned subsidiary of The Home Depot, is a free online and mobile resource for consumers seeking reliable home-service professionals. By simply requesting a service such as a maid, plumber, electrician, painter and more at redbeacon.com or through Redbeacon’s iPhone and Android apps, consumers receive competitive price quotes from qualified local pros in their area. Redbeacon service providers compete for the business, which saves consumers both time and money. Customers complete an online or mobile form that includes what home service they need, key details about the size and scope of the job, and when and where they need the job done. Redbeacon’s home-service matching system taps into its network of qualified local pros and checks their availability. Customers choose from up to four competitive quotes for the project and book the chosen professional on redbeacon.com or through the mobile apps. To ensure that each customer is satisfied, Redbeacon backs every job up to $1,000 with its Home Service Guarantee. Readbeacon made its debut as a sponsor for Logano last weekend at Martinsville.
  • BOUNCE BACK FROM MARTINSVILLE: While a 16th-place finish at Martinsville isn’t terrible, Logano came out of the short track battle looking for more. The No. 20 Home Depot/Redbeacon Toyota was fast all day despite struggling in practice on Saturday afternoon. Late in the going, Logano was looking at another solid top-10 finish when he restarted on the outside lane with less than 25 laps to go. However, such is normally the case at Martinsville, the outside lane didn’t go and Logano was freight-trained by the cars on the inside lane. Logano eventually fell into line around the 15th position and got a bit of damage in the process. After another late-race stop to fix the damage, Logano survived a green-white-checker finish to hold onto 16th despite having a top-10 car.
  • A SPECIAL STORE APPEARANCE: Logano will “return to his roots” of sorts this weekend in Texas. Logano will make an appearance at a local Home Depot store on Thursday night and sign autograph for his fans while also promoting Home Depot’s new relationship with Red Beacon. Logano’s appearance will be at The Home Depot store in Mesquite, TX (address: 18855 I-635, Mesquite, TX 75150). Logano’s appearance will run from 5-7 p.m. local time.
  • DOUBLE-DUTY FOR LAST THREE: With three races remaining on the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule (Texas, Phoenix, Homestead), Logano will find himself doing a lot of racing before the season wraps up in Florida in just a couple of weeks. Starting this weekend in Texas, Logano will be back behind the wheel of both a Sprint Cup Series and a Nationwide Series car for Joe Gibbs Racing. Logano will be racing double-duty for the remainder of the year. This weekend, he will be in the No. 20 GameStop Toyota in the Nationwide Series while the final two races of the year he will run the No. 18 Toyota. Logano has eight wins in 19 starts in the Nationwide Series this season in addition to his one Sprint Cup Series victory, which came earlier this year at Pocono Raceway.
  • TEXAS TROUBLE? NO MORE SAYS LOGANO: Over the years, the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway has not been overly kind to Logano. In eight career races at the track, the 22-year-old has earned just one top-five and one top-10 finish. That came in the second race in 2010, when Logano led 30 laps and finished fourth. Logano’s best starting position at Texas came in the sprint race of 2011, when he qualified in the eighth position. Earlier this season, Logano qualified 14th and finished 19th at Texas in a race that saw a record 234-lap green flag run knock a bunch of cars off the lead lap.
  • RACE INFO: The AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (Fort Worth, TX; 1.5-mile tri-oval) is set for Sunday afternoon, November 4, 2012. The race will be broadcast on ESPN at 2:00 p.m. ET, with radio coverage on PRN.

Logano’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Stats:

Starts

Wins

Top 5

Top 10

Poles

Laps Led

Earnings

Avg. Start

Avg. Finish

32

1

2

12

1

190

$3,698,298

12.3

17.4

Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:

Starts

Wins

Top 5

Top 10

Poles

Laps Led

Earnings

Avg. Start

Avg. Finish

144

2

16

41

4

337

$17,959,168

17.2

18.7

Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats at Texas Motor Speedway:

Starts

Wins

Top 5

Top 10

Poles

Laps Led

Earnings

Avg. Start

Avg. Finish

8

0

1

1

0

30

$1,075,835

19.0

25.1

From the Cockpit:

Joey Logano Quotes: “We have three races to go and three races to try and wrap up the season with some good finishes. We have three really different styles of tracks coming up on the schedule and I think we have the opportunity to be good on all of them. Our biggest issue right now is being able to start the race better. We’ve been in this slump where we are just a little bit off at the beginning and by the end of the race, the car is fast and as fast as the leaders. We need to get the speed early and work on making it better. I think we can do it and it would be great to wrap up the year with all of the Home Depot guys with three really good finishes and maybe even another win.

“Texas is a fast, fast track. A lot of people say it looks like Atlanta and Charlotte and in appearance it does somewhat. But it’s a lot different as far as setup and driving style. The speeds are so great getting into the corners at Texas. And there are a lot of bumps that you have to deal with, which can make handling a premium. When you bury the car down there in the corner at those high speeds and hit the bumps and your car isn’t handling just quite right, it really makes you take notice. And the speeds really make this track aero dependant. We can get strung out and have a lot of green flag racing like we had there in the spring race. That means green-flag stops and that means less chances to make big changes to your car. So get it right early and you have the best shot at a good finish.”

No. 20 Home Depot / Red Beacon Toyota / Joe Gibbs Racing Team:

Driver – Joey Logano
Crew Chief – Jason Ratcliff
Car Chief – Jason Shapiro
Race Engineer – Jacob Canter
Engineer – Mike Lorusso
Spotter – Rocky Ryan
Shock Specialist – Dusty Boyd
Mechanic – Scott Geerts
Mechanic – Todd Foster
Mechanic – Leo Thorsen
Tire Specialist – Jerold Shires
Engine Tuner – Mike Johnson
Tires – Bill Byrne
Truck Driver – Thomas “Thumper” McCrimmon
Truck Driver – Scott “Scooter” Crowell
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