Victory Interview with Joey Logano from NASCAR Nationwide Series at CS
Here is the audio file of the post race interview with Joey Logano along with a transcript. This is yours to use and post. Also, here is a link ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationwide/sets/72157621276890529/) to the pictures that Nationwide took and Twittered (http://twitter.com/Nationwide ) from the Chicagoland Speedway. These are yours to use and share with your readers. Nancy Smeltzer Nationwide Insurance Communication Consultant (614) 249-4491 FAX: (614) 677-6802 Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nancy501 Joey Logano NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview – Chicagoland Speedway When only the second caution of the night, came out 14 laps from the finish of the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, all the top cars hit pit road for fresh tires, except leader Joey Logano. Everybody thought there was no way the teenager would then hold on to win, when the race restarted with nine to go but he did just that. Speeding away to a two-point, six-second victory, over his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Logano talks about his crew chief Dave Rogers’ decision to bypass pit road at the end of the Dollar General 300. Joey Logano: At that point I said, “Dave it’s up to you, whatever you want to do.�?? And he said, “Stay out, stay out.�?? And I think he was planning on a lot more cars staying out and nobody did. But kind of looking back at practice, we ran some of our fastest laps on older tires so we are hoping to cool them down and do the same thing again, so that was pretty neat to see. That clean air’s just huge, especially at a track like this; it’s probably the worst place I’ve come to so far as far as arrow so the clean air just took off. Which was a major surprise to runner-up Kyle Busch who figured Logano couldn’t beat him on old tires. Kyle Busch: Yeah, I figured he was just a sitting duck but like the 38 was, I don’t even know where he finished, but they beat us, they were fast. In the GameStop Toyota, Logano led 96 of the 200 laps as compared to Busch’s 78, taking the top spot away from him for the final time with 25 laps left, when Busch had trouble getting around Brad Keselowski. Logano: Yes, I was sitting there. It looked like the 88 was holding up the 18 a lot and I was like wow this is playing in my hand perfect. So I didn’t understand why and you know once I got there Kyle kind of ran up the track had to get some clean air and left front fender and it would turn up underneath him and get by to 88 the next lap. My car was just turning better than his at the time, I think him racing with the 88 probably overheated his right front like I did before when I couldn’t pass him. So like I said, it’s clean air, it’s all about air here. It’s air or arrow. Finishing third, Brian Vickers. Brian Vickers: We had the best car at times, usually towards the end of the run but those guys would get so far ahead of us we just couldn’t catch back up to them. I thought we had a shot there at the end and then Carl jumped on our outside and made it through wide and that definitely caused us the shot of the whim. In regards to Carl Edwards, what Vickers was talking about was the fact that Edwards tried to pass him to the outside before the start-finish line on the final restart, which is illegal under the new double file restart rules. Now Edwards did slide back and behind Vickers and turned number two so he wouldn’t be penalized but Vickers chance to win had already passed him by. Looking at the rest of the finishing order, Jason Leffler came home fourth, like Logano, on old tires. Jason Leffler: You know worst case scenario we would have fell to seventh or eighth, but getting through those first couple corners with clean air is such an advantage. Especially on a short run like that so it definitely paid in our favor. It was, by the way, the first time Toyota had swept the top four positions, since joining the Nationwide Series. The Chevy of Kevin Harvick came across the line fifth. Six to ten at the end: Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Mike Bliss and rookie Justin Allgaier. Joey Logano has now won three races in 2009 and on each of those occasions, Kyle Busch was staring at his back bumper. Logano: It’s cool, you know I think about all of my Nationwide wins and it’s been a one-two finish with Kyle. That’s pretty neat. This is definitely not the one I thought we were going to win after I hit that last pit stop but the fastest car won the race, so that was neat. He didn’t get the win at Chicagoland but Busch did increase his championship lead to 192 points over Carl Edwards. Minus 334, Brad Keselowski is a distant third. A full set of the pictures taken at Chicagoland Speedway can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationwide/sets/72157621276890529/ The Nationwide Series will return this week to the Gateway International Racway. Look for the audio interview following the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 presented by Ventrilo July 18. And don’t forget, Nationwide’s Media Team will be Twittering from Gateway. You can follow the Team’s whereabouts on the track at Twitter/Nationwide (http://twitter.com/Nationwide). If there is a picture of someone or something you would like to see trackside, send your request to http://twitter.com/Nationwide. The team will try its best to get the shot. Pictures will be posted at http://www.twitpic.com/photos/nationwide