• Joey Logano started seventh and finished third in Sunday afternoon’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Logano entered the event as the only driver locked into the Championship 4 race next weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Stellar pit work by the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang team would keep Logano contending inside the top-five throughout the event.
• Through the opening 60 laps Logano ran inside the top-10, reporting the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang needed to rotate a little better from the center off the corner, leading crew chief Paul Wolfe to make an air pressure and trackbar adjustment on the first stop of the race. Quick work by the crew netted the team four positions, lining the team up in third position for the restart. Under caution at lap 104, the team again made air pressure and trackbar adjustments to gain additional center turn. Logano finished the opening stage in the fifth position.
• Through the second stage Logano continued to run inside the top-10, reporting the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was better directionally, but still needed more turn despite running some of the fastest laps on the track. The team elected to pit, making only a stagger change to the No. 22 Ford Mustang. Logano finished the second stage in the eighth position, right behind teammate Brad Keselowski.
• Logano would spend the majority of the final stage inside the top-five, with the Shell-Pennzoil pit crew grabbing the lead twice on pit road. On the final pit stop of the race, the crew would send Logano off pit road in second, but with the No. 32 car remaining on the track, Logano would be pinned in third position where he’d finish the race.
• The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Mustang team will head to Phoenix for Joey Logano’s fourth appearance in the Championship Four in the past seven years. Logano is the most recent NASCAR Cup Series Champion among those qualified for the race with teammate Brad Keselowski being the only other former series champion left standing.

 

“Everyone on the Shell-Pennzoil team is excited and we’re ready to go. This is a great opportunity. We were able to lock ourselves in a couple weeks ago and we’re able to breathe for a minute and get through these last couple races. What a crazy race it was today for those guys trying to get their way in. The advantage we earned the last couple of weeks was to be able to focus on our Phoenix car before everybody. Our batteries are charged up and we’re ready to go.”