NASCARNASCAR Cup SeriesLogano scores a top-10 finish at Martinsville

Logano scores a top-10 finish at Martinsville

By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer

MARTINSVILLE, VA – After a timely caution kept Joey Logano from going a lap down, he climbed back through the field for a top-10 finish at Martinsville Speedway.

The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion struggled in the second Stage of the Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Logano’s No. 22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford Mustang slid down the running order during the 100-lap green flag run. As his Team Penske teammate attempted to lap him, the Middletown, CT native used his competitors to block. A caution for Cody Ware spinning on lap 240 kept Logano from losing a lap.

Despite another quick caution, Logano was unable to reach the top-10 before the end of Stage 2. However, he slowly climbed up the running order. Logano put himself in position that he was ahead of a 14-car pileup with 115 laps to go.

From that point, Logano moved into the top-10 and then the top-five. He moved Martin Truex Jr. off turn four while battling for third, nearly sparking a second pileup. After that, Logano slipped back down the running order during a nearly 70-lap green flag run. When the final caution waved, he was just inside the top-10.

With a shorter 40 lap run to finish the race, Logano battled Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and Tyler Reddick for position. When the checkered flag waved, the 30-year-old crossed the line in sixth behind Larson.

“We weren’t very good,” admitted Logano. “It was kind of a confusing race for us. I thought we were decent yesterday the first run and then fired off on this first run and was like, ‘Uh oh.’ I had no rear grip and started fighting loose in and off. We almost went down a lap, but a good strategy play got us up toward the front and a couple good changes got us closer to where I needed to be as well.

“Then it was just kind of a slugfest, a grinding race from there. There were points I thought we were decent and then the next run we were no good, then we were pretty good, and then no good. We just kept jumping the fence back and forth and trying to understand where to be was pretty tough. 

“We almost got a top five out of something that was a pretty challenging day; got something out of it. I was expecting a lot more out of today, but we still got a sixth-place finish with our Shell/Pennzoil Mustang which is just okay.”

After starting on the pole due to the metric qualifying formula, Logano stayed up front during the initial 40-lap green flag run. After rain postponed the remainder of the 500-lap race from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, he restarted in second. When the first Stage ended, Logano found himself in ninth.

The sixth-place finish is the fifth top-10 for Logano this season and the 226th of his Cup Series career.

Logano is locked into the playoffs by virtue of his win at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track. He is third in the points standings, 77-points behind lead Denny Hamlin.

Feature Photo Credit: Photo by NKP / NKP Photo

Seth Eggert
Seth Eggert
Growing up in Northern New Jersey, Seth grew up in a family of NASCAR fans. He was always determined to have a career in the industry. While in college, Seth bought a subscription to iRacing. As an avid iRacer, Seth took an opportunity to start a journalism career at iRacingNews covering the iRacing.com IndyCar Open Oval Series. He spent four years at iRacingNews before moving towards coverage of motorsports in the real world. In 2016, Seth joined Tribute Racing, which then became Motorsports Tribune as a Staff Writer. That same year, he graduated from Mitchell Community College with an Associate’s Degree in History. He joined the Kickin’ the Tires team as a Staff Writer and eSports Editor in late 2019. When he is not writing or covering NASCAR or iRacing, Seth works at Mitchell Community College as an Administrator in their Mooresville campus tutoring center. He is also qualified to tutor up to 38 different classes ranging from Communications to History to Math to various electives.
MORE STORIES BY THIS AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!

Other Stories