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Race report

Ill-Handling Car Relegates Logano to 30th-Place Finish at Richmond

Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Action Sports Photography

Joey Logano qualified his No. 20 Home Depot Toyota eighth for Saturday evening’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Richmond International Raceway.

The beginning of Saturday night’s race was delayed a couple of hours by several thunderstorms in the Richmond, VA area. The green flag was supposed to wave at 7:30pm but the race didn’t start until 9:15pm.

Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Joey Logano, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

When the race finally went green, Logano quickly noted that his No. 20 Home Depot Toyota was going to be a handful all night long. The car was extremely tight, especially in the middle of the corners.

Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff and the Home Depot pit crew took a swing at several changes early in the race hoping it would help. However, on the second run of the night, which proved to be one of the longest green-flag runs of the evening, Logano fell a lap down while still fighting a tight condition.

More rain worked its way over the Richmond International Raceway just 50 laps prior to halfway and brought the race to a halt once again. At this point, Logano and the team were two laps off the pace.

When racing final resumed, Ratcliff and Logano continued to make major chassis adjustments, as much as six rounds of wedge into the car, but nothing seemed to be helping the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.

By the end the night, Logano and Ratcliff were never able to find a solution for the extremely ill-handling car and Logano limped home to a 30th-place finish.

Logano’s Post-Race Thoughts: “What a frustrating evening for our team. There was just nothing that went right. From the moment the race was delayed by rain, we should have just known that things were going to go downhill. As soon as we took the green, the car just wasn’t right.

It was really tight in the middle of the corner at first, but the longer the night went, it just kept getting tighter and tighter. We were throwing all kinds of changes at it, even huge changes that should have been making a big difference, and nothing was helping. I don’t know what was wrong with the car, but it was just horrible.

I really hope the guys get it back to the shop and find something in the front was all out of whack. That is really the only explanation for as bad as we ran tonight. Now that we don’t have to worry about making the Chase, I hope we can just go out there and compete for wins. That is all we can do at this point.”

Source: Joe Gibbs Racing

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