Sprint All-Star Race Preview

• NOT SATISFIED WITH SECOND: Last season, Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion team finished second in the Sprint All-Star race, a career-best effort for the 23-year-old driver. However, as he will say, if there is one race on the schedule that no one will ever remember who finishes second, it’s the Sprint All-Star event.
• SOLID HISTORY: Logano has competed in the Sprint All-Star race three times over of the course of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) career. He first raced in the event in 2009, when he finished eight after getting into the event via the Fan Vote during his rookie season. In 2010, Logano finished third and followed that up with his second-place result last season.
• CHARLOTTE IS HIS TRACK: Of all of the tracks on the NSCS schedule, Charlotte remains Logano’s best track statistically. In 10-career points races at Charlotte, Logano has earned three top-five and six top-10 finishes over the years. On top of that, he’s earned two top-five and three top-10 finishes in three All-Star race appearances and has won a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Charlotte.
• A UNIQUE TWIST: One of the fan favorite parts of the All-Star race in Charlotte is the unique qualifying format, in which the drivers make three timed laps as well as a green-flag pit stop. This year, qualifying for the race will take place just two hours before the start of the race, while it had traditionally taken place on Friday the last several seasons.
• GET THE ALL-STAR’S AUTOGRAPH: Logano will join all of the other drivers in the Sprint All-Star race on Friday, May 16, for a special autograph session at the Sprint Experience at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The session will run from 4:00-5:00 pm ET and participants will be limited to the first 100 wristbands. Fans can visit the Sprint Experience display for more details on the autograph session.

YOU HAVE FINISHED THIRD AND SECOND IN THE LAST TWO ALL STAR RACES. DOES THAT MEAN THIS SEASON WILL RESULT IN A FIRST?
“I mean that is what you are here for, right? You don’t come to the All-Star race to run second, third or 16th. You want to come here to win the race and a million bucks. I’ve said before, I finished second last year and you know who remembers that – no one. There are no points, so you don’t worry about trying to finish third or fourth or anything. You want to go for that win. Plus, you can learn something for next week’s Coke 600 for sure. If it looks like the weather will be close, you can see what certain adjustments are going to do for your car and such. All that is good, but really, you just want to win this thing and lift that million dollar check at the end of the night.”

IN YOUR ROOKIE SEASON, THE FANS VOTED YOU INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE. HOW SPECIAL WAS THAT, LOOKING BACK ON IT?
“As a rookie, I think it was great. I would have liked to have been able to race my way in in the Showdown or win a race early in the season, but I was still learning, so it would have been tough. But it just goes to show you how powerful social media was, even in 2009. I know they started a campaign on my Facebook page and it was big to try and get me voted into the race. And when my name was announced, it was pretty cool. To be able to say that the fans voted you in, especially as a rookie that they didn’t really know that much about, was nuts. Hopefully though, that’s the last time that will have to happen for the rest of my career and we can keep winning races and getting ourselves into the show the right way.”