The Home Depot Team stuck to its game plan on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the strategy paid off for the No. 20 Team. Crew chief Greg Zipadelli’s call to bring Joey Logano into the pits while running second with 74 laps to go for right-side tires and fuel proved to be a great decision as Logano finished the 301-lap race in the fourth position. The top-five finish moved Logano up two spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings to 18th, just one point out of 17th behind Juan Pablo Montoya and 13 points out of the top 15.

“My guys did awesome today,” said Logano. “They gave me a good Home Depot Toyota. We started the race about where we needed to be and Zip (Zipadelli, crew chief) made the call to take four tires and lose all our track position. But we had to make the car better. He did a good job with that. We worked our way up through the field a little bit here and there – strategy was everything and you didn’t always know where you were running because at one point you were 25th and the next minute you were running second. The guys made the right call to just get fuel that time and saw some of those guys run out of fuel there at the end. Everyone did a good job and we’ll take it. It’s cool to come up here to the Northeast – up at home and get a good, solid finish at New Hampshire.”

The Northeast-natives Logano and Zipadelli were hoping for a good run in the LENOX Tools 301 in Loudon. The team made significant gains in the practice sessions and Logano qualified The Home Depot Toyota in the 16th position for the race. The green flag waved in front of a full crowd at the track, but Logano quickly noted the car was very loose on the exit of the corners. The yellow flag waved on lap 30 and Zipadelli called his driver down pit road for right-side tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Racing resumed on lap 34 with Logano in the 18th position.

The handling wasn’t improving much for Logano, so when the caution came out on lap 60 Zipadelli was willing to lose track position and put on four fresh tires to move around the air pressure. The result was a 25th-place restart, but a much better handling Home Depot Toyota. Logano moved up to the 20th spot by lap 80, and broke into the top 10 for the first time on lap 106. He manuevered the car around the No. 78 and No. 83 to take over the eighth position on lap 124.

Having newer left-side tires than most of the other cars on the track, Zipadelli called for right sides only on lap 145 following a caution. The stop moved Logano up to the third position for the restart on lap 149. Logano spun his tires on the restart and dropped back to the eighth position. He was unable to gain any ground on the track, so when the yellow was displayed on lap 184 he pitted again for four fresh Goodyears and a chassis adjustment on lap 184. Logano dropped back to the 26th position for the restart on lap 188. The new rubber and adjustments really helped the handling of the car and he was in the top 20 again on lap 193.

Logano was still a little loose, but was able to pass cars on the track. Zipadelli told Logano to remain on the track following a debris caution on lap 215 because they were not in their fuel window yet to make it to the end. When most of the field pitted, Logano inherited the lead on lap 217. He dropped back to second following the restart, while behind him three cars tried to make it three-wide and brought out the caution on lap 224. This would set up the tough decision for the team, with 76 laps still remaining in the race.

Crew chief Zipadelli decided to call Logano down pit road and just a few other cars followed suit on lap 226. The team was five laps shy of being within its fuel window to make it to the end of the scheduled 301 laps, but past races had shown that an additional caution usually waves before the end of the race. Logano restarted from the 22nd position on lap 229 and worked his way up to 13th when the final yellow flag of the day waved on lap 240. Zipadelli reminded Logano to save fuel, while six of the seven cars in front of Logano were forced to pit for Ethanol. Racing resumed on lap 244 and he would take the green flag in the seventh position. Logano battled his way up to the sixth position after getting around Carl Edwards, and over the closing laps he picked up two more spots and held off a hard-charging Jimmie Johnson behind him to finish fourth. Logano’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished third and 36th, respectively.

Logano has gained a total of five positions over the last four races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings and has gone from the 23rd position and 50 points out of the top 15 heading into Sonoma, to 18th and 13 points out of the top 15 leaving Loudon.

Logano, The Home Depot Team and the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will enjoy a weekend off before heading to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 31. The race airs on ESPN television and IMS radio with live racing coverage beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET.

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