The Home Depot Team Notes of Interest
· Joey Logano will make his first start at Chicagoland Speedway this weekend in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car. He has not competed at the 1.5-mile track before, and will see his first laps of competition in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Friday night. Logano and The Home Depot Team participated in a Goodyear Tire test in May, so he does have some laps on the track in a Sprint Cup Series car.
· Logano broke into the top 20 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings this week with his 19th-place finish at Daytona International Speedway. It was the first time the 19-year-old driver and The Home Depot Team has been in the top 20 this season. Over the last 10 races, the team has amassed one win and four top-10 finishes. They have completed all but one lap since Talladega and have not finished worse than 25th.
· Crew chief Greg Zipadelli and The Home Depot Team have eight starts at Chicagoland Speedway. Since the series began racing in the Windy City they have two victories, one pole and six top-five finishes. Last year the team finished fifth in the LifeLock.com 400.
· The Home Depot Team is taking chassis #231to the track this weekend for the 19th race of the 2009 season. The team has not raced this chassis yet this year.
· Logano continues to lead the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings over Scott Speed. He earned rookie of the race honors for the 14th time this season in Daytona, and increased his lead to 23 points (201-178). Last year’s top rookie finished 30th in Chicago.
Logano Quotes:
On Chicago…
“Looks like I’m a freshman at a track once again. The good news is there is only like one other track I haven’t raced on yet. I did get a chance to do the Goodyear Tire test at Chicagoland, so I won’t be completely lost when I get there on Thursday. I believe we were pretty good during the test and I learned a ton. Depending on which tire they bring back I think will make a difference on how decent we will be off the truck. The track had a ton more grip and was much faster than I thought it was be. I am actually looking forward to it this weekend.”
On the standings…
“We climbed out of a hole over the last 10 or so races. It’s cool to finally be in the top 20 and that is where we need to finish the season in points. We keep digging and are getting closer to being competitive every week. I know I’ve said it before but there are so many little things that have attributed to the turn around. I continue to get more comfortable in the car and Zippy (crew chief Zipadelli) and the guys know what I need now. The amazing thing about The Home Depot Team is that even when times were tough they never got down. That helped so much and really kept me motivated.”
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