AAA Texas 500 Race Preview

AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval, Fort Worth, Texas)

No. 22 AAA Ford Fusion driven by Joey Logano

Sunday, November 3, 3:00 pm ET

• RED, WHITE AND BLUE: The No. 22 Penske Racing Ford Fusion will have a new look this weekend in Texas as will carry the red, white and blue colors of AAA. It will be the second time that AAA has adorned the side of the No. 22 with their unique livery with the first coming at Kansas Speedway back in April. AAA is a long-time partner with Penske Racing, sponsoring both the No. 22 in the Sprint Cup Series as well as the No. 3 car driven by Helio Castroneves in the IZOD IndyCar Series.
• MORE AND MORE TESTING: Logano will once again spend a majority of his week at the track, testing for the upcoming end to the season. This time though, Logano is testing his NASCAR Nationwide Series ride at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Any track time is good track time, however, and the additional time behind the wheel will also help for the Sprint Cup Series finale.
• HALLOWEEN MEMORIES: With the “scary” holiday upcoming, Logano is often asked what some of his favorite costumes are. Logano recalls that one of his favorites was when he and his roommate and friend Coleman Pressley dressed as the lead characters from the movie Dumb and Dumber. He also recognized the irony of dressing up several times as a racecar driver when he was a kid.
• TWIN TEXAS NATIVES: The No. 22 AAA Ford team has not one, but two, team members from the great state of Texas, with both serving on the “over the wall” pit crew. Front Tire Carrier Dave Littau hails from El Paso, Texas, which boarders Mexico, while Rear Tire Changer Colin Fambrough is from nearby Tyler, Texas.
• RACER’S DREAM GARAGE CALENDAR: The 2014 Racer’s Dream Garage presented by Shell V-Power calendar will debut at the track this weekend in Martinsville. The calendar will show off drivers like Logano, Brad Keselowski, Travis Pastrana, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Helio Castroneves and several others along with their personal street vehicles. Several fans’ cars are also featured as part of the Shell Ultimate Enthusiast contest. Fan can get the calendar on the Shell-Pennzoil merchandise hauler, at the Penske Racing gift shop or by ordering it online at www.joeyloganofoundation.org.

THREE RACES TO GO IN THE SEASON; WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE FINAL THREE?

“We want to go out there and contend to win all three of these races. I feel like we have a good shot at winning all of them for sure. We’ve been really good on the 1.5-mile tracks this year and two of the final three are mile-and-a-halfs. That has been our strong point this season. And then you add Phoenix on top of that and we ran top 10 all day there in just our second race together earlier this year before we had fuel line issues late in the race. It will be pretty tough for us in the championship race, but I think we can still crack the top five. So that’s the goal from here on out.”

YOU ARE TESTING A NNS CAR THIS WEEK. DOES THAT STILL HELP ON THE CUP SIDE?

“The cars are definitely different and drive different, but also it’s all about track time and seat time. If the tire is different, you can really learn about how making certain changes on the car will affect the car and its driveability. You can kind of see how the track rubbers in and the groove. But as far as the car itself, there isn’t much you can take from one to the other. But anytime you are behind the wheel and you are on the track, you are honing in your skills and learning something.”