Logano Finishes 37th after Engine Failure at Texas

Joey Logano and the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota team battled handling issues throughout the AAA Texas 500 race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The issues persisted through in Sunday’s 500-mile race but it was an engine failure that ultimately sealed the fate of the Home Depot team and they left Texas with a 37th-place finish.

Logano started the race from the 25th position and immediately reported a “loose-in, tight-in-the-center, loose-off” handling on the Home Depot Toyota that prevented him from being aggressive in traffic. The team would try a variety of changes throughout the race but the problem would persist during the duration of the event.

The first 111 laps of the race clicked off without incident when the caution was displayed for debris. Logano had reported that the Home Depot was handling more and more loose as the run continued so the team made an adjustment to both the right and left-rear spring rubbers. During the course of the next run, Logano spent a great deal of time in traffic which shifted the car’s handling to the tight side. Once Logano worked his way through the traffic, the car’s handling shifted back to the loose-tight-loose issue with which the team battled at the start of the race.

The No. 20 Home Depot team was running in the 28th position at lap 255 when Logano came on the radio to tell the team he thought the engine had lost a cylinder. The diagnosis was confirmed one lap later as the power on the Home Depot started to falter. The engine eventually quit at lap 260 of the race, thereby ending the day for Logano.

“I lost a cylinder about 10 laps ago or so,” Logano said. “The valve train, probably the same thing that we’ve been fighting most of the year. We just ran terrible all day and really thought we were going to be able to make up some ground on the thing. We just weren’t fast the whole time we were out there. Story of our year — we just have to find some speed in these cars. I don’t know. We used to be fast — we have to figure something out.”

Logano now sits 24th in the driver point standings. He is 16 out of 24th place.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels west for the last time in 2011 when it visits Phoenix International Raceway for Sunday’s Phoenix 500. The race will be broadcast on ESPN on Sunday beginning with the “Countdown to Green” show at 2 p.m. EST. The radio broadcast will be provided by MRN radio.

Joey Logano AAA Texas 500 Photos

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Joey Logano AAA Texas 500 Video