Dover International Speedway appears to be feast or famine for Joey Logano and The Home Depot Team. After posting a third-place finish at the one-mile track last fall, an early-race spin and a late-race wheel issue left Logano and the team in the 27th position when the checkered flag waved.

“I honestly have no idea what happened when the car spun off turn two,” said Logano. “We thought we would have time to get our lap back since it was so early in the race, but the long green-flag runs did not help our situation at all. It got frustrating because I was much faster than guys running on the lead lap even with front end damage, but never had the opportunity to get our lap back. With 20 to go it looked like we would salvage a top-20 finish, but I got a vibration and tried to ride it out. Eventually the wheel broke and I had to pit. It was just a hard day for everyone on The Home Depot Team.”

Rain washed out qualifying on Saturday, so the starting order for the FedEx 400 was based on the two combined practice speeds. Logano and The Home Depot Toyota lined up fifth for the start of the 400-lap race on Sunday. Logano quickly grabbed the fourth position when the green flag waved, and called in to tell crew chief Greg Zipadelli the car was loose in and tight on exit. Unfortunately on lap 20, the No. 20 Toyota spun coming off turn two bringing out the caution. Logano pitted so the team could repair the front end damage and assess the damage to the splitter. The team lost a lap in the pits and Logano was 42nd when the green flag waved on lap 24.

NASCAR threw a competition caution at lap 40 so teams could assess tire wear with rain washing the rubber off the track on Saturday. The leader had just passed another car two laps prior to the yellow flag, so Logano was not in position to earn the “lucky dog” back onto the lead lap. He brought the car into the pits so the team could repair the splitter and he returned to the track in the 42nd position for the restart on lap 45. Starting at the tail-end of the field meant the leader would be coming quickly at the one-mile track. Logano eventually went another lap down on lap 89 before green-flag stops began 20 laps later.

Logano was able to run extremely competitive lap times despite the damage to The Home Depot Toyota. With very few cautions and several rounds of green-flag stops, by lap 163 there were only 20 cars remaining on the lead lap. Logano and the team had battled back up to 27th with 100 laps to go in the race, as the leader continued to put cars one and two laps down. On the lap 366 restart, Logano was up in the 20th position with one additional spot he could pick up. Four laps later, however, he told Zipadelli he had a vibration and slowed his race pace to try and make it to the end of the event. On lap 385 the wheel broke and Logano was able to limp the car down pit road for tires and finish the race in the 27th position. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finished fourth and 16th respectively.

Logano dropped to 28th in the point standings heading into this weekend’s non-points event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Races will be broadcast on Speed on Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT and on MRN Radio.

Joey Logano FedEx 400 Photos

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