The Home Depot team battled handling issues and cosmetic damage on the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota on Sunday afternoon but teamwork, strategy and patience helped Joey Logano pick up a 14th-place finish in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The Home Depot Toyota presented with handling problems from the drop of the green flag on Sunday as Logano reported that the car was loose at the exit of the turns. The issues persisted and worsened as a tight condition developed in the middle of the turns in addition to the loose issue. The team got its first chance to work on the car during a round of green-flag pit stops at lap 62. The team made a wedge adjustment in an effort to free up the car and the adjustment helped but Logano requested more of the same while racing in the 24th position at lap 83.

The first caution waved at lap 86 and the team made more aggressive adjustments to The Home Depot Toyota, adjusting the track bar and air pressure, changing four tires and adding fuel. Logano was in 24th place for the restart at lap 91 and the improvement on the car’s handling was immediately evident as he cracked the top 20 at lap 122 and moved to 17th place at lap 145.

Logano was in the 19th position when the second caution waved at lap 155. The caution came out in the midst of green-flag pit stops leaving only five cars on the lead lap. The Home Depot Team was one of about 20 that had to take the wave-around to get back on the lead lap for the restart at lap 162. Racing was aggressive at the restart and Logano was sandwiched between two other cars and ended up with slight damage on both of the front fenders of The Home Depot Toyota. The team was able to pit during the third caution at lap 172 for repairs and adjustments. After making a little longer stop on pit road for repairs and adjustments, Logano was in 23rd place for the restart at lap 177.

The last 123 laps of the race were completed without another caution. The Home Depot Team was one of the teams getting good fuel mileage during the Sylvania 300 and as such only had to make one more pit stop for fuel. The team made its last stop during green-flag conditions at lap 230 while competing in the 23rd position. Logano climbed back into the top 20 with about 30 laps to go in the race. As the final 30 laps ticked off, a number of cars either ran out of fuel or had to make one more stop for fuel which placed Logano in 14th place when the checkered flag waved.

“We had some handling issues there early in the run and we finally got the Home Depot car running pretty well,” Logano said. “On one of those restarts I just got caught on the backstretch between two of the cars around me – can’t say it was anyone’s fault but just close racing. We got some fender damage and that hurt us. We fixed the damage and played the fuel mileage pretty good and definitely better than others. I guess after everything that happened, 14th is pretty good.”

Logano’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin finished 11th and 29th, respectively. Logano remains 21st in the NASCAR Spring Cup Series driver point standings following Sunday’s race in New Hampshire. He is six points out of 20th place.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to Dover International Speedway for next weekend’s AAA 500 on Sunday, Oct. 2. ESPN will provide the live broadcast of the race beginning with the “Countdown to Green” at 1 p.m. EDT. The race is scheduled for a 2 p.m. EDT start.

Joey Logano Sylvania 300 Photos

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Joey Logano Sylvania 300 Video