Joey Logano and GameStop Team Grab Top-10 Finish to Round Out 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season

The Finish: Joey and the GameStop team put an exclamation point on the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series season Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After starting ninth, Joey and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team fought a loose racecar and multiple restarts where he was struggling to find grip, eventually coming home with a 10th-place finish. The top 10 was Logano’s 15th top-10 run in 22 starts this season. He also finished with one win, one pole and eight top-five finishes for the 2011 season.

The Race Recap: Logano and the GameStop team got limited practice Friday due to rain but we’re still able to qualify ninth Saturday afternoon in the Gamestop/PDP/Afterglow Toyota. When the green flag flew on the final NASCAR Nationwide Series event of the season, Logano began a slow and steady charge to the front, picking off cars one at a time despite multiple early cautions, settling into a nice rhythm riding around sixth place. Following the first round of pit stops it quickly became apparent that Logano’s No. 20 Toyota was too loose and the team would have to work on the handling, especially the few laps coming after restarts.

As the car continued to free up, Logano and Crew Chief Adam Stevens started making a plan on how to tighten the car up without affecting Logano’s middle. Logano hit pit road under green just prior to halfway for his second stop when Stevens noticed a car spinning on the front stretch. A great pit call by Stevens had Logano continue on through the pits without stopping, finding him one of just 10 cars still on the lead lap. When he came back in to pit under caution Stevens called for “wholesale” changes including adding a spring rubber and making a shock adjustment among other changes.

For the remainder of the event, Logano continued to struggle on restarts, often losing several spots before the No. 20 Toyota came around. Logano found himself seventh late in the going and catching fifth and sixth, but several late-race cautions played against the GameStop team. Logano spent the remainder of the event just trying to hold on, eventually coming home 10th as the checkers flew to end the 200-lap event and the 2011 Nationwide Series season.

Joey’s Quotes: “It wasn’t the way we wanted to end the season with the GameStop Toyota. We were really hoping to go out here and compete and try and get GameStop a win before the year was out. But we just really struggled tonight. It was frustrating to say the least. I felt like we had a good car, but just like what we’ve fought a lot of times this year and specifically with this tire, we were just junk on the first 10 laps or so after a restart. Then the car would start to come around, but with the way these races go and with the way aero plays such a part in these races, you just fall behind and you can’t make up that much ground. The guys up front have clean air and you are stuck in dirty air and by the time the car comes around, you are already a few seconds behind and that’s tough to make up
even when you are faster. I felt like we were on par with those front guys 10 or 15 laps into the run, but with all of the restarts that we had tonight, it just bit us. We fell back and fell back and just couldn’t make up the ground. I’m happy we were able to finish 10th, but that isn’t where we wanted to be or where we should be.

“All in all, it was a pretty good season. There were a few races that I feel like we really should have won and left something on the table. We were able to win at Daytona which was huge for me and for the team. It still stands as probably the biggest win of my career. And we were in contention for a lot of races. Two races that I’ll think about for sure was the first Dover race where we got together with Carl (Edwards) coming to the white flag while racing for the lead and ended up wrecked on the front stretch; and the Bristol night race, where we ran Kyle (Busch) down late in the race from a couple of seconds back and had that photo finish for the win. It was a blast to get to work with Adam (Stevens) all season long and watch him and this No. 20 team mature. All but one of those guys was new to the team this year, so it was a growing year for all of us. It was also a lot of fun to work with Jason (Ratcliff) and the No. 18 guys for a couple of races. The more you work with people, the more you can take away from it all. And of course, it was great to work with GameStop again. They are just an awesome sponsor and they’ve been there from the start of my Nationwide Series career. You don’t see that very often these days, so to have a sponsor there that keeps coming back and that has such a great relationship with a driver and team is pretty cool. I look forward to working with them well into the future and seeing more and more of their
cool paint schemes. Congrats to Ricky Stenhouse for winning the Nationwide Series Championship. It’s been cool to get to know him a little more this year and he’s well deserving of the title, especially after the year he had last year. All-in-all, it was a good year and hopefully next year will be even better.”

Joey Logano Ford 300 Photos

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Results from today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying session at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Ford 300 Qualifying Results

Joey Logano Ford 300 Photos

Saturday, November 19, 2011 Session

• Ford 300 on ESPN2 at 4:30 pm ET

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A total of two practice sessions were scheduled today for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Results from today’s practice sessions, along with photos are posted below.

Joey Logano Ford 300 Practice Results

Joey Logano Ford 300 Photos

Saturday, November 19, 2011 Sessions

• Ford 300 qualifying on SPEED at 1 pm
• Ford 300 on ESPN2 at 4:30 pm

All times posted above are eastern time.

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No. 20 GameStop Toyota News, Notes & Paint Scheme:

• LOGANO LOOKING FOR DUEL JGR BURNOUTS IN HOMESTEAD: Joey Logano has had the chance before. In his rookie season of 2008, the youngster took part in a duel burnout celebration with then NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Clint Bowyer when Logano piloted the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a 10th-place finish and a clinch of the 2008 Nationwide Series Owner’s Championship. This weekend, Logano hopes to partake in a duel burnout situation at Homestead once again. This time however, he hopes his burnout is the result of a checkered flag win for the No. 20 GameStop Toyota in the season-finale Nationwide Series event, while the other burnout is that of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the No. 18 JGR Toyota, clinching what would be the team’s fourth-straight Nationwide Series Owner’s Championship. Logano’s fourth-place finish last week in Phoenix behind the wheel of the No. 18 GameStop Toyota means the No. 18 team holds a one-point lead over the No. 60 heading into the season-finale this weekend at Homestead.
• PDP AND AFTERGLOW HOPE TO “LIGHT UP” HOMESTEAD EVENING: Performance Designed Products (PDP) and its Afterglow brand of video game controllers will ride along with the No. 20 GameStop Toyota this weekend in Homestead. PDP is an industry leader in designing and manufacturing products for all major video game platforms including the Sony PS2, PS3, PSP, Nintendo DS and Wii, and Microsoft Xbox 360, as well as a line of accessories for the Apple iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and Android-based phones. The company has been supplying video game accessories to the U.S. market for more than a decade. PDP’s AFTERGLOW™ line of controllers features an array of LED lights that shine through the clear casing and can be turned on and off, or set to light up when the controller vibrates. PDP’s AFTERGLOW™ line includes controllers for the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PS3.
• LOGANO A FRONT-RUNNER AT HOMESTEAD: With the NASCAR Nationwide Series visiting Homestead-Miami Speedway only once per season, Logano’s stats at the track aren’t mind-blowing. But he’s made all three of his visits to the 1.5-mile South Florida track count. Logano has twice started from the pole at Homestead (2008 and 2010) and has led laps in each of his three starts at the track (21 laps led in 2008, 13 in 2009 and 17 in 2010). Logano’s best career finish at Homestead came in 2009, when he finished fourth. In fact, according to NASCAR Statistics, Logano’s average running position under green-flag conditions at Homestead-Miami Speedway is an impressive 5.9. He also leads all drivers with an average starting position of 2.0.
• BATTLE OF NASCAR FAMILIES… AND LOGANO SET FOR HOMESTEAD: On Saturday, Joey will participate in an event featuring the new NASCAR video game, NASCAR Unleashed, at Homestead. The event is all part of the “Battle of the NASCAR Kids” competition. NASCAR drivers’ children will compete against one another for pride and glory. As their dads coach and their moms manage them, these kids will race for first place and the honor of being crowned the first ever “Battle of the NASCAR Kids” champion. The event aims to bring together NASCAR families and ultimately raise money for charities, with each participating family donating $5,000 to a charity of their choice. Post race all the racers will band together to hand a check to The NASCAR Foundation for $25,000 from Activision. As part of the event, Logano will pick two lucky raffle ticket wild card racers from the audience, and he’ll coach them while playing in the tournament and trying to win a cool $5,000.
• CHASSIS: The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team will bring car #127 to the track this weekend. The car has raced in two events this season, at Michigan and again at Charlotte, where Logano was set for a top-three finish before an accident with just a handful of laps to go.
• STAT OF THE WEEK: 2.0. Logano’s average starting position at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Despite only running in three races at Homestead during the course of his career, Logano has qualified 1st, 4th and 1st in his three visits.
• THE RACE: The Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Homestead, FL; 1.5-mile oval) is set for Saturday afternoon, November 19, 2011. The race will be broadcast on ESPN2 at 4:30 p.m. ET, with radio coverage on MRN starting at 4 p.m. ET.

Logano’s 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Season Stats:

Logano’s Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats:

Logano’s Career NASCAR Nationwide Series Stats at Homestead Miami Speedway:

Joey Logano Quotes:

“It’s hard to believe that it’s the end of the season already and we are getting ready to run Homestead. It seems like just yesterday that we were unloading the GameStop Toyota at Daytona for the opener and thinking that we had a shot for a really good season. And now, here we are almost ready for another off season. We’ve had a lot of fun this year in the Nationwide Series. It’s been a struggle at times in figuring out these new Nationwide Series cars, but we’ve had some really good runs. We won at Daytona, which was huge for me and for the entire team. We almost won and finished second at Talladega and Bristol. We were right there at Watkins Glen. There have been plenty of ups and downs along the way. It’s also been great working with Adam (Stevens) all year. It’s been a lot of fun to see him go from being an Engineer on the Cup side to a Crew Chief over on the Nationwide side. And getting to work with guys like ‘Sib,’ ‘Rudy,’ and Joel, some of the guys I kind of came up through the racing ranks with again has been a lot of fun as well. It’s also been great to spend a few races with Jason (Ratcliff) this season. As a driver, you try to take as much knowledge from as many people as you can and that is what getting to work with Jason has allowed me to do this year. Between Adam, Jason and Zippy (Cup Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli), I’ve picked up a lot of valuable information this year.

“Homestead is a fun track. It’s one of those places where you can run just about anywhere and can move around to make your can handle better. You can go up top and run right near the wall or you can run near the bottom and take the short way around. It’s a lot of fun either way and gives you a lot of options as far as setting up the car. It’s really just about as fun as it is on the video game too. When I play the new NASCAR 2011 game in my motor home during the weekend, I often race my friends at Homestead. It’s just a lot of run in real life or on the game.

“It’s been a great year with GameStop and I’m looking forward to this weekend. We’ve got a big event with the new NASCAR Unleashed game and maybe one of my wild card picks will win $5,000. And the car this weekend looks great with PDP and Afterglow controllers on it. We’ve had some really cool games and really cool cars this year. The Batman, Wipeout, Captain America and Call of Duty cars were all really awesome this year. I’ll never get tired of driving for GameStop and the way they market themselves. They have to be one of the coolest sponsors out there, and I’m proud to represent them.”

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GameStop Team and Joey Logano Keeps Title Hopes Alive with Top-Five Finish at Phoenix International Raceway

The Finish: Joey Logano, Phoenix International Raceway and top-10 finishes are all too common of friends. Logano, racing in the No. 18 GameStop Toyota Saturday, started the Wypall 200 in the ninth position, fought a sometimes tight and sometimes loose racecar during the afternoon, but still prevailed to score a fourth-place finish and keep the title hopes alive for the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team. Heading into next week’s season finale for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, the No. 18 team holds a one-point lead on the No. 60 Roush Fenway team in the race for the Nationwide Series Owner’s Championship.

The Race Recap: Logano made his fourth start of the season behind the wheel of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Saturday afternoon with GameStop and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on the side of the car. Logano and the rest of the field didn’t know what to expect from the newly repaved Phoenix International Raceway, with one-groove proving the only way to go in Thursday and Friday’s extended practice sessions. However, once the green flag flew, it was obvious that racing was going to be just fine. After qualifying ninth, Logano and the No. 18 spent the first part of the race feeling out the track. A couple of early cautions allowed Logano and crew chief Jason Ratcliff to talk over the handling of the car, which Logano reported as loose. After an early round of stops, Logano started his march to the front, breaking into the top-five by lap 90. It was obvious to Logano, Ratcliff and the No. 18 team that Logano’s GameStop Toyota was much better on long runs than short runs. At one point just past halfway, Logano was the fastest car on the track by nearly a half second. Fantastic pit stops by the No. 18 team got Logano into second with 50 laps to go, racing Sam Hornish for the lead. Logano was once again the fastest car on the track. However, several late-race cautions over the race’s final 30 laps didn’t play into Logano’s hand. Once again, he found the No. 18 difficult to handle on the short runs and better on long runs. As the checkers flew, Logano crossed the line in the fourth position while trying to run down third place Carl Edwards. The fourth-place finish was Logano’s sixth top-10 finish in six career Phoenix NNS events.

Joey’s Quotes: “We had a really good GameStop Toyota today. The car was really fast. The problem is the car was fast after about 10-15 laps. The first part of a run or right after a restart, the car wasn’t good at all. I spent those first 10 laps just trying to hold on and not lose too many spots. We might only lose one or two spots, but we would lose three, four or five seconds to the leader. And then we would come on and we would be the fastest car on the track. There were times Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) was reporting that we were running two or three tenths faster than the leaders. But when you fall five seconds behind the leaders, it takes a lot of fast laps to catch up. But the car was great. That was one of the best cars I’ve ever had here at Phoenix.

“We were fast despite all of the worries about the racetrack. A lot of us were worried about how the racetrack was going to be and if it was going to be just one lane. It took a while but eventually, there was a bit of a second groove, especially down in turns three and four. There were times I was up in the second groove and I thought I was going to lose some spots and I was actually able to hold my ground and even take spots back away. And now you add that apron down in the dogleg and that adds a whole new aspect to racing. You go down there and I swear it about knocks your helmet off. It’s such a hard hit when you go down there. But it’s such a shorter distance. You can drive right underneath a car doing it that way. That’s one way we were passing cars, for sure.

“I’m glad we were able to get fourth and keep the No. 18 team in the points hunt. They are really going to have to work for it next week to beat Carl and that 60 team, but if anyone can, this 18 team can. It’s going to be exciting. Hopefully, we can win the race down at Homestead in the No. 20 and the No. 18 team will finish second right behind us and we can celebrate a win and a championship together.”

What’s Next: The GameStop Toyota and Logano will round out the NASCAR Nationwide Series season at Homestead-Miami Speedway next weekend. Logano will be back behind the wheel of the No. 20.

Joey Logano Wypall 200 Photos

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