· Joey Logano started seventh in Sunday’s Food City 500 in the No. 22 Autotrader Ford Mustang. Logano moved inside the top-five by lap 15, setting his sights on the leaders. He reported his Mustang fired-off tight, but then slowly started to build loose as the laps clicked off and rubber accumulated on the concrete half-mile. An early caution on lap 39 allowed Logano to pit for four tires and an air pressure adjustment.

· Logano used the changes to his advantage, moving up to third position, where he ran for the majority of the remaining laps in the first stage. The third caution came out on lap 119, six laps from the finish of the first stage. Most of the leaders pitted, including Logano, who received four tires and an air pressure adjustment to help loosen up the Autotrader Ford Mustang. The green came out with two laps remaining in the opening segment. Logano finished fourth when Stage 1 concluded on lap 125.

· Logano powered into the lead early in Stage 2, grabbing the lead from teammate Brad Keselowski on lap 145, and building up a four-second advantage before reaching lapped traffic with 65 laps to go in the stage. A caution on lap 214 brought the leaders to pit road and Logano’s team would make an air pressure adjustment to help the tight condition. The changes worked and Logano claimed his third stage win of 2019 when the segment concluded on lap 250.

· During the stage break, the No. 22 team pitted and once again made an air pressure adjustment after Logano reported the handling on his No. 22 Mustang had gone to the free side during the run. The Autotrader Ford Mustang restarted second when the race went green on lap 261.

· Just before the eighth caution at lap 376, Logano lost the lead to Clint Bowyer. During the yellow flag, Logano reported that his No. 12 Ford was now tight, so crew chief Todd Gordon called for an air pressure adjustment. Logano lined up third for the restart on lap 382.

· Logano battled teammate Brad Keselowski, claiming the lead on lap 470. The final caution on lap 479 split the strategy among the leaders. The No. 22 team pitted for four tires while others chose to remain on the track or get two. Logano restarted eighth 14 laps from the finish and was able to rally to third-place before the checkered flag. He led 146 laps in his Ford Mustang on the way to his fourth top-five finish of the 2019 season.

 

“Right at the end there I thought when we got by the No. 2 (Keselowski) I said, ‘If I can just hold him off that’s the pass for the win.’ I was pretty confident we were going to be able to do that for 15 laps and then the caution came out. What do you do? Do you pit? Do you stay out? You know a few of them are going to stay out. By the time I got to third those cars were so far ahead of me I was stuck and was not going to get to them. It stinks when you have the fastest car and don’t win, but it’s a team sport and it takes every piece to make it work. We had the car part figured out today, we just missed it on some other ends and just have to keep fighting hard. We got a stage win and led a lot of laps, but you want to win at Bristol so bad. Bristol is the coolest track.”