Joey Logano bounced back from an early-race issue to become one of the fastest cars on the track during the midway point of the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Handling issues on No. 20 Home Depot Toyota cost the driver a couple of positions during the closing laps but he still walked away with a 13th-place finish. The effort moved Logano up one spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings to 18th place.

“The first part of the race we were really loose,” Logano said following the race. “They (the team) got the car better and we came from the back and my car was awesome. I drove all the way up to fifth and thought this thing was good enough to win this race. We made another run and kind of hung in there in fifth and then it just got loose – just like a light switch. We stayed loose for another run and then just gave up our center so at the end of the race it was still loose. We had a better car at points than where we finished. I just feel like we should have finished better than where we did.”

Logano started the race from the ninth position and battled a loose-handling condition from the drop of the green flag. The first caution waved at lap 32 and the team took the opportunity to make air pressure and wedge adjustments to The Home Depot Toyota. Logano restarted the race from the 24th position at lap 37 and quickly found out that the adjustments were not aggressive enough as the loose-handling issue persisted on the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.

The second caution waved at lap 103 with Logano in the 19th position. The team elected to make a more aggressive adjustment and added a spring rubber to the right-rear spring. Logano was in 16th place when racing resumed at lap 110. The adjustment appeared to do the trick as Logano quickly moved to the 13th position by lap 120. At lap 123 Logano reported major issues on The Home Depot as the handling drifted to an erratic state and started fluctuating from “wrecking” loose on one lap, to “plowing” tight the next lap. Crew chief Greg Zipadelli thought perhaps the issue was a loose wheel and was getting ready to bring Logano to pit road during green-flag conditions when the third caution of the race was displayed at lap 129.

The team changed four tires, adjusted the air pressure on the tires and sent Logano back onto the track in 27th place. During the next 100 laps Logano wheeled one of the fastest cars on the track as he climbed back into the top 20 by lap 165 and was up to 13th place by the time green-flag pit stops started taking place at lap 235. Logano stayed on the track to lead lap 246 before making his own green-flag pit stop for four tires and fuel. Once back on the track the driver of The Home Depot Toyota continued making forward progress and was up to the sixth position when caution slowed the race pace at lap 360. The team made wedge and air pressure adjustments to help with a tight condition that had developed and sent Logano back onto the track in fifth place.

The handling on The Home Depot Toyota drifted to the loose side during the next 50 laps around the track and Logano had drifted back to the ninth position by the time the caution waved at lap 413. After another round of adjustments Logano was back on the track in the 11th position when green-flag racing resumed. The loose-handling issue persisted during the closing laps and the team eventually settled for a 13th-place finish.

The 13th-place effort moved Logano up one spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings. He is three points out of 17th place and 14 points out of 15th.

Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for next weekend’s AdvoCare 500. ESPN will provide the live broadcast of the race. The race is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. EDT start.

Joey Logano Irwin Tools Night Race Photos

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