Scotts EZ Seed 300 - Results

Joey Logano and GameStop Racing Team Grab First Top-Five Finish of 2011 Nationwide Series Season

Joey Logano and the No. 20 GameStop Racing team have been right on the cusp of running up front and winning races through the first few NASCAR Nationwide Series events of the 2011 season, but the team has been just be short each week when the checkered flag has waved. Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, the team didn’t have a winning car, but a strong effort by both Logano and the No. 20 GameStop Toyota pit crew produced the team’s first top-five finish of the 2011 season.

Logano started the Scott’s EZ Seed 300 from the 10th position, but knew that things would dramatically changed once the green flag waved. The Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series teams had experience excessive tire wear during practice on Friday, forcing NASCAR and Goodyear to make a right-side tire compound change for the rest of the weekend. Nationwide Series teams would qualify Saturday morning on the old tire, and switch to the new tire during a lap 25 competition caution. Logano, crew chief Adam Stevens and the rest of the GameStop crew knew that meant big changes would be needed to get the car handling right during the 300-lap event.

Logano slipped back to 12th spot with an extremely tight car before the competition caution, when Stevens elected to make an air and track bar adjustment. The No. 20 crew picked up a couple of spots and got Logano out in the 10th position. Logano stayed in the back-half of the top 10 during next 100 laps before the car started to finally come around,and Logano worked his way up to second as green-flag pit stops began.

The team struggled on short runs all afternoon long, losing a spot here and there during each restart. Logano slipped from third back to as low as seventh despite the team’s best efforts on pit road and Steven’s calls trying to free the car up on pit road.

Late in the event however, the No. 20 GameStop Toyota started to come back to Logano once again, and he was able to claw his way from seventh back up to fifth and was gaining on the fourth place car when the checkers flew. The top-five finish moved the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team up to second in the NASCAR Nationwide Series owner’s point standings.

Joey Logano Thoughts:
“I’m actually pretty pumped to finally finish one of these Bristol races in one piece and without getting spun or wrecked. This is the first time that I’ve been able to do that and get through a race clean. A top-five finish was good. That is about all we had today. We might have been good enough to get to fourth or maybe even third, but I don’t think we had a race winning car today. So, on days like that, you’ve got to take what you can get. We are not points racing here, but there is no reason to go out there and overdrive if you don’t have the car that can do it.

“We were just too tight all day long and really all weekend long. We kept trying to free the car up and we got it turning alright in practice, but as soon as the race started, it was super tight again. That is a hard thing to battle here. I really thought changing the tires on the competition caution would change the car, but it wasn’t that big of a change. With the old tire or the new tire, we were going to be tight. It also didn’t help that we kept starting on the inside lane during the restarts and that killed us. If we started on the outside row, we were alright. But on the inside, we just lost too many spots. Hey, it’s a top-five though so we’ll take it. This team is getting better each and every week and we’ll be up there before you know it, fighting for wins like the 20 car and GameStop is used to.”

Adam Stevens Quotes:
“We were just too tight all day long. In fact, I think we just fought being right all weekend long. And at a place like Bristol, you need to be right one, especially to compete with our teammate Kyle there. He has this place figured out and he’s strong here. If you are going to beat him, you have to be on your game. I guess if the No. 20 GameStop Toyota wasn’t going to be in Victory Lane, I’m glad our teammate here at JGR was the one to get there.

“I’m really proud of the guys. They worked hard all weekend long to make a bunch of changes to this car. We are still a young team who is learning each other, but we want to get better and give Joey the best possible car out there when the race starts. He’s one of the best drivers out there, so if we can give him a good car, he’ll get it up to the front. So it is a little disappointing that we weren’t able to get him a better car, but we’ll keep improving. And the pit crew did a great job today, even though we weren’t on pit road too much. They made the adjustments that I called for and got us out of the pits fast each stop.

“We’ll get there. We just need to get a little better. Our goal is to be as dominant on these weekends as Kyle is. Joey isn’t running for points, so going out there and winning races is what is really important for us. That is what we are all here to do, and we want to continue the winning tradition that JGR has got going one. Next week is a new week and we’ll be ready for California.”

What’s Next:
The No. 20 GameStop Toyota will return to the track this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for the Royal Purple 300.

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