• Joey Logano started ninth and finished second, leading a race-high 143 laps on Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, the second top-five of the season for the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Mustang Ford Mustang. Logano also scored the Stage 2 victory that’s to solid pit work by the No. 22 Ford crew, which kept Logano at the front of the field throughout the 500-kilometer race.
• After starting ninth, Logano climbed inside the top-five prior to the early competition caution, reporting he needed additional rear grip in the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Mustang. At the caution, crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to adjust with air pressure and a trackbar adjustment. Logano finished the first stage in the second position behind teammate Ryan Blaney.
• Quick pit work by the Shell-Pennzoil crew would hand Logano the lead to open the second stage. Logano would lead the majority of the second stage, outside of the green flag pit cycle where the team adjusted the handling with a slight stagger change. Logano would continue to lead, winning his first stage of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
• In the opening laps of the third stage, Logano reported he was fighting a slight free-in and free-off condition, similar to comments he made earlier in the race while in clean air. A few laps prior to the planned green flag pit stop, Logano reported that he’d picked up a severe vibration in the car, forcing the team to start the cycle of stops early.
• A yellow-flag stop with 45 laps remaining would allow the Shell-Pennzoil crew to once again showcase their speed in the pits, sending Logano from fifth to the lead leaving pit road. On the restart, Logano would drift to second behind teammate Brad Keselowski as the laps began clicking away. Another caution flag with 30 laps remaining would bring the field to pit road yet again with the Shell-Pennzoil crew getting him out first one more time.
• Logano would get pinned to the bottom lane on the race’s final restart and ultimately finish in the second position.

 

“We did a good job maximizing our day with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. We were a second-place car and finished second, won a stage and second in the other stage, so a lot of points. I hate finishing second, though. It really stinks, but, overall, this has been a good racetrack for us. The last few times we’ve been here is first, third and second, so we’re all over it, just needed that last run not to have a caution. I think we were in a pretty good spot to maybe run that thing out, but, overall, that was where we had it.”