No. 20 Home Depot Toyota News & Notes:

• BACK IN THE POINTS HUNT: As a result of his 15th-place finish at Kansas Speedway last week, Logano jumped up to 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings and now sits just 28 points outside of the top-10 – the drivers that are locked into the chase at the end of the season. Logano is also just six points out of the 11th spot, which would guarantee him a spot in the post-season as a wild card recipient. Logano spent the first four races of the season in the top-10 in the point standings and has fallen no worse than 13th so far this year with some of his best tracks upcoming on the schedule, including Talladega, Darlington and Charlotte.
• JOEY THE TV STAR?: Logano will step into a new realm on Thursday night at Richmond International Raceway; the realm of NASCAR TV analyst. Logano will be a part of the SPEED TV live broadcast of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event from Richmond at 7pm ET. Logano will be in the booth for the first time ever to offer his unique outlook on the minor-league series. Logano will have quite the perspective as well. He was the series Rookie of the Year and Champion in 2007, winning seven races between the East Series, West Series and the annual Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing team that Logano drove for during that championship season is also the defending series champions with Max Gresham winning the title for them team last year. This year, youngster Darrell Wallace Jr. is piloting the No. 18 JGR Toyota in the East Series. Logano also has a number of close friends who either drive or work on cars in the East Series, including Corey LaJoie (driver of the No. 07) and roommate Coleman Pressley (crew chief of the No. 14).
• RACING FOR CHARITY: Once his duties as a TV commentator are over, Logano will then put his racecar driver hat back on and compete in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown. Logano will be driving the No. 20 Home Depot Late Model for owner and Late Model superstar Jamie Caudill. Logano has competed in the last two Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown charity events. In 2010, the final year the event was held at Southside Speedway, Logano was running in the top-10 before getting involved in an accident with fellow NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose. Last season, Logano kept his nose out of trouble all night and finished fourth in the event behind Hamlin, Michael Waltrip and Chase Elliott.
• LET’S HAVE SOME MORE 2010 PLEASE: Logano has raced at Richmond six previous times in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with his best result by far coming at the end of the 2010 season. That day, Logano qualified an impressive sixth and finished fourth in the 400-lap event, the best finish of his career at Richmond. Logano has one other top-10 start, a ninth in the spring event last season and just missed a top-10 that race, coming home 11th. In the fall race last year, Logano was running strong inside the top-12 before his engine let go just over 100-laps from the end.
• POCONO TIRE TESTING: Logano is spending Tuesday and Wednesday this week participating in a Goodyear tire test at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania. Logano and the No. 20 Home Depot team are one of five teams participating in the test for Goodyear, which will help Goodyear come up with a tire to bring back for the two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events at the newly repaved tri-oval. However, the length of the test was still in question, as snow showers were forecast in Pocono for both days.
• SOCIAL MEDIA UPDATE: Joey Logano spent the middle part of the week giving away NASCAR Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series tickets for Richmond to his fans through several trivia questions. During the last week, Logano also finally topped the 70,000 follower mark. Logano came into the season having just under 30,000 followers. You can find Joey on Twitter @joeylogano, on Facebook at facebook.com/joeylogano20 and on YouTube at youtube.com/joeyloganoracing. Home Depot Racing can be found on Twitter @HomeDepotRacing
• RACE INFO: The Richmond 400 at Richmond International Raceway (Richmond, VA; .75-mile oval) is set for Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 7:30 pm ET. That race will be broadcast on FOX (TV) and MRN (radio).

Logano’s 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Season Stats:

Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats:

Logano’s Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats at Richmond Int’l Raceway:

From the Cockpit:

Joey Logano Quotes: “I’m ready to get back to some short track racing here in Richmond. We have a lot of 1.5-mile tracks on the schedule and we are getting better at them, but I feel like we are even stronger at the short tracks and at places like Richmond. It’s never really been one of my best tracks, but I really enjoy racing there. I’ve got a couple of teammates that have always run really well at Richmond and won a lot of races there, so we have a lot of notes we can feed off of to make our Home Depot Toyota even better. A couple of years ago we had a really strong run and I remember a lot about that race. We just need to get our car working right early and I feel like we can be there in the top-10 by the time it’s all said and done.

“We were really happy to come away with a top-15 run last weekend in Kansas considering we were put in a box early and had to start from the rear of the field. That finish actually moved us up one spot in the points and that is huge heading into the next few races. I’m alright at Richmond, but I feel like Talladega and Darlington are two of my better tracks and Charlotte is probably the track I’ve run the best at during my Sprint Cup career. So those are three races in a row that we have a great shot at getting good finishes at and getting ourselves back up into the top-10 in the point standings.”

No. 20 Home Depot 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 – Chris Taylor
Rear Tire Changer – Joe Crossen
Rear Tire Carrier – Eric Groen