jlbanner

race review

• Joey Logano started Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway from the seventh position following a solid qualifying effort on Saturday morning. But after racing towards the front of the field during the first half of the event, Logano had to settle for a 12th-place finish after battling a tight-handling Auto Club of Southern California Ford Mustang.
• Logano, the race winner last week in Las Vegas, radioed to crew chief Paul Wolfe at the start of the race that his Ford was slightly loose getting into Turn 1, likely because of the heavy tailwind he received motoring down the front stretch. Wolfe began to adjust the chassis and by the end of the first stage, Logano was running top three lap times to finish seventh when the segment ended on lap 60.
• Following additional adjustments to start the second stage, Logano noted that he was happy with the balance of the No. 22 Ford Mustang. However, as the race moved toward the 100-lap mark of the 200-lap event, he radioed that was now fighting a tight-handling condition.
• The tight condition would plague Logano and team throughout the rest of the event, a condition that was made worse in traffic around the two-mile oval. At one point during the second half of the event, Logano dropped to the 15th position in the running order but was able to battle back for a 12th place finish at the end of the day.
• With the result, Logano and the No. 22 team remain second in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, 11 markers behind teammate Ryan Blaney.

 

quote

“It was almost like two different races for the Auto Club of Southern California Mustang team. I thought we started the race strong and could race inside the top five, but towards the middle of the race it just turned very tight. We tried to take some of our previous adjustments back out, but it didn’t seem to affect it much. The track seemed to tighten up as the race went along.”

 


Auto Club 400