Vegas-Banner

race review

• Joey Logano started 15th and finished ninth in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the No. 22 Pennzoil Mustang. Logano battled a tight-handling car through the majority of the race, as the team adjusted the handling on each stop. Logano brought home his second top-10 result in the first four races of 2021 and continued his streak of leading at least a lap in each of the opening events of the NASCAR Cup Series season.
• Logano reported the Pennzoil Ford Mustang was running tight in the opening 25 laps before the competition caution flag flew. On the team’s first pit stop, crew chief Paul Wolfe called for air pressure and trackbar adjustments on the No. 22 Ford Mustang, as fast work by the crew gained four spots coming off pit road. On lap 47, the caution flag was displayed for the second time of the race and the No. 22 remained on the track and restarted in the second position. Logano seized the lead of the race for seven laps in the first stage, before falling back to ninth on older tires.
• During the second stage, the No. 22 Pennzoil Mustang continued to build tighter, prompting the crew to make a wedge adjustment on its stop at lap 121. After the stop, Logano reported that his Ford Mustang began running on the loose side, indicating that the team had made the proper adjustment on the green flag stop. Logano finished the second stage in the 14th position.
• On the restart to begin the final stage, Logano used the outside lane to power back into the top-10 with the Pennzoil Ford Mustang, but his forward progress was halted with a debris caution at lap 178. The team elected to pit for four fresh tires, which put Logano in the 20th position on the restart.
• Logano looked to be in good position with his final stop at lap 222, as the team took just four tires and fuel. The race continued under green flag conditions as Logano brought the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang home in ninth place.

 

quote

“We just weren’t as fast as we wanted to be today. There’s a little bit of confusion at the moment to figure out exactly where it is and what we need to do better. There are two different theories and hopefully we can figure out what those are, but, overall, we tried some strategy stuff to get up there in a stage, led a couple laps, but fell off on the older tires, and then tried some more strategy stuff with tires to try to pass two cars and it just seemed like we were a ninth-place car. That’s where we were on the long runs, it’s just where we were. We’ve got a little bit of work to do to make up that difference, but it’s a top-10 finish. Hopefully, it keeps us up towards the front in points. We didn’t get many stage points. I’m not sure where we’re at yet, but we’ll head off to Phoenix.”