· Joey Logano began his weekend at Chicagoland Speedway by qualifying the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the 12th position for Sunday’s 400-mile event at the 1.5-mile track.
· The handling of Logano’s Ford Fusion early in the race would be indicative of his racecar all afternoon long. Logano fought the classic “LTL” condition – loose in, tight center and loose off. Crew Chief Todd Gordon radioed Logano and told him most of the field was also suffering from the same issues.
· Gordon would make slight air pressure adjustments on the Shell-Pennzoil Ford all afternoon long, trying to keep ahead of a track that was slick with temperatures hovering around the mid-90s throughout the afternoon.
· Logano would finish the first stage in the eighth position and the second stage in the 10th position. As the 267-lap race wore on, Logano would continue to radio in that he was lacking overall grip and was loose, tight and loose.
· Gordon made a call for two tires on lap 178, which gave Logano some much needed track position. He ran as high as second during the late portions of the race, however, the two-tire call eventually saw him slip back to fifth as the tires wore out.
· Despite a slow pit stop on lap 209 that saw Logano restart in the ninth position, he was able to race up to sixth, but dropped back to eighth at the checkered flag. The top-10 finish, Logano’s 13th of the season, keeps him third in the MENCS driver standings – 119 back of leader Kyle Busch.
“Overall, it wasn’t a great day and wasn’t a bad day for the Shell-Pennzoil team. We just lacked some overall speed today during the race. I feel like we could have run third if we had track position and had fresh tires at the time. But we were fighting track position all day long. It was just really freaking hard to pass out here today. You are fighting the air all afternoon long. All-in-all, a good day, not a great day, for our team. I’m looking forward to getting to Daytona and trying to win another one there.”