CHEEZ-IT 355 At The Glen at Watkins Glen International (2.45-mile road course, Watkins Glen, N.Y.)
No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion driven by Joey Logano
Sunday August 11, 1:00 pm ET
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion
- TESTING WITH A PURPOSE: Heading into this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team spent their fair share of time testing on road courses to improve their performance. Logano and the team tested at Virginia International Raceway earlier this season before their 11th-place finish at Sonoma Raceway. Not content with the strong Sonoma result, Logano and the team took to the test track again just a few weeks ago, turning laps at Carolina MotorSports Park in Kershaw, SC.
- BACK TO THE TOP-10: Following a string of seven top-10 finishes in eight races, Logano suffered through tough luck and tire failures on back-to-back weekends in Daytona and Loudon, dropping him from 10th to 19th in the point standings. Since then however, Logano is back on his top-10 string, grabbing and eighth place in Indy and a seventh place in Pocono, giving him eight top-10 finishes in his last 11 starts. He is now 17th in the point standings, 38 points out of the top 10 and a Chase position.
- BUSY WEEK OFF TRACK: Logano got a little bit of practice Monday night on a road course of a different nature. Logano and several Penske Racing drivers raced go-karts at the GoPro Motorplex in Mooresville, NC with executives of Ford Racing. Then on Tuesday, Logano took part in a special anniversary celebration at the NASCAR Technical Institute.
- DOUBLE DUTY IN A NEW NUMBER: Logano will be back to double duty this weekend, competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in a third entry for Penske Racing. He will drive the No. 48 Discount Tire Ford this weekend at the Glen.
- MEET LOGANO: Logano will make an appearance at the Wal-Mart in Watkins Glen on Thursday afternoon at 6:00 pm ET.
Race: CHEEZ-IT 355 At The Glen
Track: Watkins Glen International
Date:Sunday, August 11
Race Start Time: 1:00 pm ET
Radio Broadcast:Live on MRN Radio and SIRIUS XM Channel 90
4:00 pm ET, Final Practice (SPEED)
DO YOU FEEL ALL THE ROAD COURSE TESTING HAS HELPED YOU GUYS THIS YEAR?
“Well, any time you can test with your team, it just gives you an added bonus. I mean it’s like another race weekend with them. You continue to learn more about yourself, your team and your interaction with them. Plus, testing allows you to try a lot of things out that you might not get a chance to try on race weekend. And with road course racing, it’s all about more and more laps. The more laps you make, the better to become because you never stop learning about things you can do better.”
HOW DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE PROGRESSED AS A ROAD COURSE RACER SINCE THE START OF YOUR CAREER?
“Again, I think it just helps to get laps. When I came into the Sprint Cup Series, I’d only run a handful of road course races in the Nationwide Series and a couple in the East and West Series. Now I’ve got a lot more experience, done a lot of testing and run pretty well in the last few Sprint Cup Series races on road courses. I don’t feel like I’m the best out there, but I feel like I’m pretty good and getting better each time I go out there. I’m always learning. And I think a win is just around the corner.”
The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion Team