It was another hot day for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. Joey Logano and The Home Depot Team were hoping their top-five starting position would lead them to a second-consecutive top-five finish, unfortunately the handling went away on the No. 20 Toyota and the race was ultimately decided on fuel mileage. Logano crossed the stripe in the 23rd position in the STP 400.

“That was a tough, hot day,” said Logano. “I don’t really know how we got so far off there with the handling of The Home Depot Toyota. The first run of the day was our best then the nose started to bounce after we made some adjustments and I just couldn’t get the car to turn. At the end of the race we tried to stay out to get a caution when it was obvious it would come down to fuel strategy, but the yellow flag never waved. We had nothing to lose at that point. These are the tough races because we had such a good car on Friday and Saturday.”

Logano was atop the speed chart in the final practice on Friday and was hoping to put The Home Depot Toyota on the pole for the race on Sunday. Logano and the team had extra incentive as the car was carrying a special decal honoring Joplin, Mo. store #3023 on the c-post that was severely damaged by a tornado. Temperatures however were not in the team’s favor when it came time to qualify, as the cars that went earlier had a cooler track with more grip and Logano was the 35th car to make an attempt. Despite the heat, Logano was able to earn a top-five starting spot for the 267-lap race.

The STP 400 was filled with long green-flag runs. The first caution flag of the day was not waved until lap 68 for debris and teams had already made their first round of green-flag stops. Logano was sitting in the 13th position at the time of the caution and told crew chief Greg Zipadelli the car was loose. The Home Depot crew made several adjustments during the pit stop and when racing resumed on lap 72 Logano was 15th. Logano quickly told the team that the nose of the car was now bouncing hard and aggravating the already loose condition. He slipped back to the 17th position when the yellow was displayed again.

Logano worked his way back up to 13th as the team continued to adjust on the car under caution on lap 154. The caution flag waved six laps later following the restart and Zipadelli told Logano to remain on the track to keep track position. The few teams that pitted again now had several extra laps of fuel that would pay dividends at the end of the race. Following a restart on lap 165, cars were racing four wide into the corners including Logano. The Home Depot Toyota got extremely tight and Logano fell back to the 25th position. The team made a green-flag stop on lap 201 and when pit stops had cycled through on lap 215, Logano was 19th. A second round of pit stops began with 26 laps remaining in the race as the majority of the field could not make it to the end on fuel, except for the few cars that had made the extra stop earlier in the race. Zipadelli kept Logano on the track as long as he could, hoping to catch a caution instead of putting on fresh tires, but the race remained under green-flag conditions. Logano eventually pitted on lap 254 and took the checkered flag in the 23rd position.

Logano now sits 25th in the NACSAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 31 points out of the top 20. His teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished third and 12th respectively.

Logano and the team head to Pocono Raceway next weekend for the Pocono 500. The NASCAR Sprint Cup race will be broadcast on Sunday on TNT beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT and on MRN Radio.

Joey Logano STP 400 Photos

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Joey Logano STP 400 Videos