Start: 6th
Finish: 6th
Stage 1 Finish: 16th
Stage 2 Finish: 1st
Joey Logano’s No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang fired off tight from the sixth starting position as he struggled with corner exit during the opening run of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400, relegating him outside of the top-10 in the running order in the first 20 laps. Following a scheduled green flag stop on lap 37 for four tires, fuel, and a round of adjustments, Logano continued to fight the balance en route to a 16th-place finish in Stage 1. At the start of Stage 2, Logano experienced issues with the handling in dirty air, but the handling started to improve in the later stages of the run as he was able to reenter the top-10 by lap 147. While running ninth in the closing laps of Stage 2, the No. 22 opted to stay out under caution to assume the lead with four laps left in the stage. Logano fended off those behind him on fresher tires and maintained the lead before the caution flag flew on lap 162 to end the stage, marking his second stage win of the season (Atlanta I). Following a trip to pit road during the stage break, Logano restarted 20th but made his way back towards the top-10 by lap 190. After staying out during the next caution, Logano lined up third for the restart but was shuffled out of the top-10 shortly after as fresher tires prevailed. The No. 22 team brought Logan to road under caution on lap 205 for four tires and a final round of adjustments, allowing him to drive from 15th to seventh in the laps following the restart before making his way into the top-five by lap 214. Logano battled to stay ahead of the No. 9 over the course of the final green flag run to come away with a sixth-place finish – marking his sixth top-10 finish of the season.
“Well, if we had the right tires on, it’s pretty good. Seems like it’s an inconsistency in tires. We’ve been fighting that the last few weeks. So we got to get to the bottom of that to understand it a little better. Overall, the stage points were big. Getting a stage win was a big one – decent points with the 10 points as well. Probably with a better restart, I could have finished top-two or three. But, oh well. We just need more horsepower – all of us.”
Logano is currently 11th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings.