· Joey Logano overcame an unscheduled pit stop that put his No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang two laps down to score a 14th-place finish in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.

· After a four-hour rain delay, the 500-mile race began with Logano taking the green from the seventh position. Early in the going, the throwback Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was tight, forcing Logano to settle into eighth place. By the time the competition caution flew on lap 35, the driver of the Shell-Pennzoil Ford reported a “plowing tight” condition.

· He remained rather quiet on the radio as the remainder of Stage 1 ran green. Logano moved from 12th up to eighth position when the stage ended on lap 100. He said his Mustang would get looser and looser as the run went on during the opening segment of the race.

· As Stage 2 progressed, Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang struggled to maintain the longevity of the front tires. A hard-fought battle with Chase Elliott also resulted in a light brush with the Turn 4 wall. Logano made an unscheduled pit stop on lap 172 for a cut right-rear tire, thanks to contact with Erik Jones just a few laps earlier. The stop dropped Logano two laps down to the leaders and shuffled him back to 32nd in the running order when the segment ended on lap 100.

· Over the final half of the event, Logano would fight and claw his way back onto the lead lap. The seventh caution on lap 276 allowed Crew Chief Todd Gordon to leave Logano on the track and take the wave around, putting the No. 22 Mustang back on the same lap as the leaders. Another timely caution would enable Logano to make up the lost distance and get on the same pit sequence as the leaders.

· Unfortunately, the yellow flag never came. Logano held serve on the lead lap, but never got the caution. He eventually fell down a lap and was credited with a 14th-place finish.

 

“It was so tough to pass out there. You could catch another car, but you couldn’t get around them. That is frustrating for sure and was another reason we got some damage earlier in the race. You just try so hard to make the passes when you can. We will just keep our heads up and move onto Indy. It would be great to get Roger back-to-back victoried at the Brickyard.”