The Finish: Joey Logano and the No. 20 GameStop Toyota were headed for a top-three finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon before getting spun by another driver in the closing laps of the event. The spin forced Logano to pit for fresh tires and restart in the back with just five laps to go. On the ensuing restart, Logano got caught up in a big wreck in front of him, causing terminal damage to the No. 20 GameStop Toyota and resulting in a 29th-place finish.

The Race Recap: Logano looked like had a solid day at his home track of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After qualifying third for the race Saturday morning, Logano fell to fourth as the green-flag flew for the 200-lap event. Logano only briefly fell out of the top-five during the event, that time coming early in the running. Logano fought a car that wouldn’t turn through the corner most of the day, but solid pit stops by the GameStop team and great adjustments by crew chief Adam Stevens got the car handling better by the end of the race. Logan found himself running fourth late in the race and on the brink of getting into the top-three thanks to his ability to conserve his tires during the long runs. With 10 laps to go however, Logano got hit from behind by Steve Wallace on a late-race restart, causing him to spin and come down pit road for four fresh tires. Logano then restarted the race in the 18th position with only five laps to go. On the ensuing restart, several cars got together well in front of Logano. Although he took the No. 20 GameStop Toyota to the low side, a car veered down into Logano’s path, causing significant damage to the front end of the car. The end result was a 29th-place finish for Logano and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team.

Joey’s Quotes: “It was a disappointing day for sure. I don’t know what all happened there at the end of the race. There were some people driving like complete idiots today and it showed at the end of the race. We were having a great run in the GameStop Toyota and I think we would have had a shot for a top-two or top-three run, if not a shot at the win, but that all got taken away by someone driving impatiently. We got turned around by the No. 66 and that put us in a bad spot starting at the back of the pack with about five laps to go or so there. You knew something else was going to happen and it did. My spotter was telling me to go low and go low and I did, but a car just came down in front of us and we slammed into them. It was not the end of the day we wanted that’s for sure.

“Up until that point, we had a pretty good car. We were tight and I couldn’t get the car to roll in the center of the corner. I was just having to wait too long to get back in the gas and that is what was killing us. We got it better there at the end of the race and our car was pretty good on the long runs. Before we got spun, we were catching the No. 33 and we were going to get by him to put us into third. That would have put us in a good spot for the end of the race, but we just never got there. It’s frustrating to end the day that way and it’s really frustrating to tear up a perfectly good car like that. But sometimes, there is nothing you can do with the way people drive over their heads.

“I do want to say congrats to my teammate Kyle for his 100th NASCAR win. That is an awesome accomplishment. He’s a great driver and his record shows it. That just gives me something to shoot for though as my career continues on.”

What’s Next: The No. 20 GameStop Toyota will have several weekends off. The next scheduled event for the car will be at Watkins Glen International in early August.

Joey Logano New England 200 Photos

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