· Joey Logano started 15th in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion in Sunday afternoon’s inaugural 400 kilometer race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL . On lap 4, Logano reported the handling on the Shell-Pennzoil Ford was building looser over the course of the opening laps, while also trying to maintain and run a smart race.

· On the first pit stop of the race at lap 14, crew chief Todd Gordon elected to make an air pressure adjustment as Logano reported he needed more rear grip around the track. The driver of the Shell-Pennzoil Ford also said he was fighting loose everywhere, with the exception of turn 8 where he was extremely tight. Logano would finish the stage in 15th position, reporting that the handling hadn’t improved after the adjustments.

· At the end of the first stage, the team elected to remain on the track with Logano cycling to the eighth position as other cars pitted. Throughout the stage, the leaders who hadn’t visited pit road during the race, began making their first stops of the afternoon, cycling Logano to the second position before settling back in to the fourth spot before the stage 2 caution was displayed.

· During the stage 2 break, the Shell-Pennzoil crew elected to pit, making front air pressure adjustments to the No. 22 Ford, looking to give Logano the turn he needed to advance through the field. With the strategies split throughout the 40-cars, the team would line up in the 24th position after finishing the second stage in fourth.

· The Shell-Pennzoil crew elected to pit again at lap 69 as they approached the window of making it to the end of the race on fuel. Crew chief Todd Gordon elected to make an additional air pressure adjustment on the stop, and reminded Logano to save fuel throughout the race as they’d be only three laps short of going the distance.

· Logano rode most of the final stage in fuel saving mode, but a caution flag with eight laps remaining changed the complexity of the race. Crew chief Todd Gordon elected to bring Logano to pit road for four tires and allow the Shell-Pennzoil team to go on the offensive for the closing laps.

· Logano and the Shell-Pennzoil team were able to survive a chaotic ending to the inaugural ROVAL, securing a 10th place finish and a berth into the Round of 12 which begins next week in Dover, DE.

 

“I feel good about it. I feel like we can fight through these next few weeks and get to the next round and keep forging forward. We have to stay consistent. We have to stay solid like we’ve been. It’s going to take more and more each round to get through, but we knocked out some pretty solid cars in this round, so we have to keep racing hard. It’s going to get harder every time, so I feel good about it. I feel like it’s going to be tight. I don’t feel like we’re where we were a couple years ago, where we felt really solid about it, but I feel decent enough that we can transfer.”