· Joey Logano started Sunday’s STP 500 from the pole position in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang. Logano led the opening five laps before relinquishing the lead to teammate Brad Keselowski while battling a Mustang that lacked entry security and center turn. Logano would drop outside the top-five, running as low as sixth before a caution on lap 65. On the ensuing round of pit stops on lap 67, the No. 22 team made a four-tire stop plus air pressure adjustments.

· Despite the adjustment, Logano continued to battle a lack of rear security and the ability to turn, causing him to slip back to seventh position. When Stage 1 concluded on lap 130, Logano reported that he was in need of a big adjustment. The team elected to give him two rounds of wedge in the right rear of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford during a round of pit stops under the stage caution on lap 134.

· When the race went back green, Logano reported that the wedge adjustment fixed the corner entry security issue, but that he still needed more help rotating the center, especially late in the run. He finished 10th when Stage 2 concluded on lap 260 and the team made a major chassis adjustment during the stage caution on lap 265. Crew chief Todd Gordon changed four tires and added a spring rubber to right-rear of the No. 22 Ford Mustang.

· The adjustments helped the Shell-Pennzoil Ford on the short run. Logano was able to run laps comparable to race leader Brad Keselowski. A caution flag at lap 313 brought the leaders to pit road for service one lap later. Logano needed better center-turn, plus help with being too loose on exit. The team made an air pressure adjustment along with four fresh tires, sending Logano out in eighth position when the race went green on lap 319.

· But later in the run Logano began to drop back in the running order. He was running in 15th position before the sixth caution brought the leaders to pit road on lap 374 for another round of stops. Once again the team made major changes (plus repairs to the right-front wheel opening after a minor scrape against the wall). The No. 22 Mustang was still too free on takeoff and grew really tight during the remainder of the run.

· Logano continued to struggle with the handling on the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford during the third and final stage, with the driver describing the handling as simply too tight during the entire run. He was credited with a 19th-place, finishing outside the top-10 for only the second time in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.

 

“We struggled today finding the balance on our Shell-Pennzoil Mustang. We’d fire off really loose and then the car would just build tight, I never really had a spot in the run where the handling would come to me. It gives us a couple things to work on before we come back here in the fall.”