The Sprint Unlimited at Daytona Preview

The Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.)

No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion driven by Joey Logano

Saturday, February 15, 8:00 pm ET

• SCHOOL’S BACK IN SESSION: Walking into the garage area at Daytona International Speedway on Friday morning will be reminiscent of summer break ending and the school year starting. And Joey Logano will return “to school” with his same group of friends from last year, returning to the seat of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion for the second consecutive season. Last year Logano set career high marks in top-five finishes (11), top-10 finishes (19), laps led (323), races led (15) and average finishing position (14.1) en route to an eighth-place finish in the final point standings.
• ONLY A FEW CHANGES: There are no major changes to the No. 22 crew this year with the exception of the addition of Canadian Alex Sinoyannis who will take over as vehicle dynamics engineer after working in the Team Penske shop for the last several years. The over-the-wall pit crew will also have a new look as only jackman Ray Gallahan will return from last year’s team.
• HE’S HOW OLD?: Amazing as it seems, Logano will embark on his sixth full-time season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2014. Even more amazing is the fact that after five years as a veteran under his belt, Logano will still be one of the youngest drivers in the series at just 23 years old when the green flag drops for Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited.
• NEVER MISSED A RACE: Since becoming a full-time Sprint Cup Series driver, Logano has never missed a start in the annual Sprint Unlimited. Logano has experienced the highs and lows in the exhibition race. Accidents brought an early end to his races in 2009, 2011 and 2012 while he finished seventh in 2010 and third in 2013.
• FAMILIAR RIDE: The No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team will start the season with a car that has seen the track before – but never at an official race. Chassis number 654 last raced as Sam Hornish Jr.’s primary car at last season’s Talladega event. However, despite being fast in practice, Hornish missed the race when qualifying was rained out. The team’s backup for the Sprint Unlimited will be its primary car for the Daytona 500.

EVERYONE IS READY TO GO RACING, BUT YOU SEEM SO MAYBE MORE THAN OTHERS. WHY IS THAT?

“It’s just my style – my nature. I’m competitive and I want to be racing and winning. If you look at the things I do for fun it’s either riding a four-wheeler or racing my go-kart or hanging out at the shop with my guys. I just live and breathe racing. Heck, I even volunteer to go to the track and test during the off-season as much as I can. So pretty much a week or two after the season ends, I’m ready to start racing again. I can’t wait to get back on the track and get back behind the wheel. This is what I do and I’m just ready to get going again.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO COME BACK TO TEAM PENSKE AND HAVE THE SAME GUYS AROUND YOU THIS SEASON?

“It’s really important. Last year, everything was new. It wasn’t just me at a new team and working with a new crew chief. We had a new engineer, a new spotter, a new shock guy and some new guys on the pit crew. This year, it will be like we just left Homestead last week with the exception of one new engineer. So to come back and have that familiarity and get right at it with the same chemistry is a big deal. I’m pretty excited about that and I know all the guys on the team are excited about it. When we unload, we already have notes and we already know what we are doing. No more learning curve. Now, we just continue to adapt.”