Phoenix International Raceway is one of Joey Logano’s favorite tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit and he was hoping for a great finish before the track is redone for the fall event. Unfortunately the engine expired on lap 213 of the 312-lap event relegating him to a 33rd-place finish.

“I’m guessing something in the valve train broke on The Home Depot Toyota about 50 laps into the race,” said Logano. “It finally just blew up. We had a good car during the first run there and we were up in the top five. I thought we were going to be all right. Zippy (crew chief Greg Zipadelli) made a few little adjustments and we were getting better. Then the engine just let go, we still don’t know what it was but they’ll figure it out. It’s probably just something little, but usually that’s all it takes. It’s a tough break for us. Two bad weekends in a row is a lot for this Home Depot Toyota Team to make up right now so we have our work cut out for us. Las Vegas is a good track for us too, hopefully we can get a solid run and turn this season around early.”

Logano tied his best starting spot of sixth at Phoenix International Raceway after his qualifying effort on Saturday. The team was optimistic about the Subway Fresh Fit 500 after two solid practice sessions on Friday coupled with the top-10 starting spot. Logano quickly worked his way into the top five when the green flag waved. He told crew chief Greg Zipadelli the car was a little tight in the center of turns three and four. When the caution flag was displayed on lap 20, Logano pitted while running fourth for tires, a wedge adjustment and fuel. Several cars remained on the track to gain track position, so Logano restarted the race from the 16th position on lap 25.

On lap 33, Logano told the team that the car felt under power. One lap later the No. 7 car of Robby Gordon brought out the caution so Logano brought The Home Depot Toyota down pit road so the crew could look under the hood. Zipadelli told Logano that there was nothing the team could do to remedy the problem and he would have to ride it out until the engine finally blew.

At one point in the race, it appeared the day may not be a total loss as multi-car wrecks brought out the caution flag on two occasions. The incident on lap 66 collected around 10 cars and several were forced to the garage for repairs. Logano was now back in the top 25 at the midway point of the race, despite having a flat engine. With several cars in the garage with 100 laps to go he was still running in the 24th position. The engine finally blew up on lap 213 and Logano was able to save the car from spinning and hitting the wall. He pulled the car into the garage and was scored in the 33rd position when the checkered flag waved.

Logano’s teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finished second and 11th respectively. Logano now sits 29th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings following the second race of the season. He sits 48 points behind teammate Busch who leads the standings.

Logano and The Home Depot Team look to rebound next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race airs on FOX television and PRN radio with live racing coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET.

SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 Practice Results

SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 Qualifying Results

Joey Logano Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes

Are you happy with your qualifying lap?

“I feel like my Home Depot Toyota is pretty good. We sat down this morning and tried to come up with a game plan for our lap there and I changed up my driving style a little bit. It seemed to work alright. We’re close, it stinks when you are that close — if you could find a little bit more if you needed it. I probably wouldn’t and would’ve ended up over driving it and going slower. It’s a good starting spot for us and hopefully get a good pit box. Pit boxes here are probably a bigger deal than qualifying spots.”

Why do you think speeds were higher here in qualifying compared to last fall?

“It got a little overcast so you get to see the speeds up and higher this year. Quite a bit better than last fall. You’re going to see the speeds up, but I feel like our Home Depot Camry is pretty good. It was a pretty good lap and definitely a good pickup from what we had in practice. The guys did a good job getting this thing ready for me. We’re close, we just have to find a little bit more.”

What do you like about this race track?

“I love this place. I think it’s neat. I struggled the first couple of times we came here, but once you kind of figure out what it takes to go fast around here it’s a blast. It’s a lot of fun to go down turn one and use a lot of brake, try to roll speed and then in (turn) three and four it’s completely opposite. You’re using hardly any brake and just about three different ways you can go through over there. It all depends on how your car is. It’s a fun track. It’s a driver’s track because you can really change your handling by what you do out there.”

SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 Race Results

Pre-Race Comments

Joey Logano SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 Photos