Joey Logano started 11th and finished fourth in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the Coke Zero 400 Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway. As the race began, Logano quickly moved to the top-five and ran in the top 10 for the majority of the 161 lap contest. Logano’s Shell-Pennzoil crew helped their driver to the lead on a pit stop at lap 98 continuing their trend of outstanding pit performances. At lap 132 crew chief Todd Gordon made the call to take four tires when a majority of the field elected two tires or no tires on what would be the final pit stop of the race. Gordon’s strategy proved to be the correct one as Logano worked his way through the field in 15 laps and was in position to help push teammate and eventual race winner Brad Keselowski on the final restart, propelling him on to Team Penske’s 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. For Logano the top-five finish marked his fourth consecutive as the Shell-Pennzoil crew begins to hit their midseason stride. Logano moved to fourth in the championship standings with one victory in the 2016 campaign.
“It was hard fought for sure. Anytime you have an opportunity to win and you are in the top four or five or six on the last restart you know you have a shot at it. I was able to get Brad a good push to clear and get a Penske car to victory lane for the 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win for Team Penske. Todd Gordon made a great call to put four tires on which allowed us to be aggressive at the end. I hate that I got into Kurt (Busch) there at the end racing to the line. I had a run to turn up underneath him and when you do that the cars get free and then I was there and he tried to catch it and I was there again. It is a product of this racing but I hate that it happened. The last thing I want to do is hit someone like that. Unfortunately, it happened. Overall a solid day for us. The 2 was the fastest car and he deserved to win the race. We need to find a little more speed in our race car.”