Ford Performance NSCS Notes & Quotes:
Bojangles Southern 500 – Darlington Raceway
NSCS Practice Sessions
Friday September 4, 2015
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion, finds himself in the middle of a hot streak, having won two of the last three Sprint Cup races. Logano enters Sunday night’s Southern 500 second in the points standings and poised for a deep Chase run with two regular season races remaining. Logano spoke to media members Friday morning.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion – TELL US ABOUT YOUR THROWBACK SCHEME AND BEING HERE THIS WEEKEND.“This whole weekend is really cool. I was really excited to walk into the garage this morning and be able to check out all the paint schemes. We have all seen pictures of them but to see them in person is really cool. I can’t wait to see when we are all side by side starting the race and everyone has their throwback paint schemes and all the stuff that comes along with it. What a great idea Chip and everyone had here at Darlington. This is a lot of fun. To see all the throwback paint schemes, not only in the Cup series but the XFINITY as well. Our paint schemes are both really cool. Our Cup scheme honors Mario Andretti’s 24-hour Le Mans race. It is pretty neat. It is kind of cool to have a car that is similar looking to his – that is really fun. Obviously we have the Hertz Rent-A-Racer program from the 60’s and that is cool to have on the XFINITY car as well.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE CHASE, DID YOU LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT HOW YOU MANAGE THE NEW CHASE FORMAT LAST YEAR THAT THE TEAMS WILL APPLY THIS YEAR? “I don’t think it will change that much. I think the goal, I would assume, is to go out there and get the best finish you possibly can until you get backed into a corner and you have to win and it is a do or die moment. We saw last year a team go all the way to Homestead without winning a race but it sure makes life easier to get that win and relax a little bit. I think the teams that have a chance to relax and be able to focus in on the race that counts at the end and not have the pressure throughout the whole Chase is at a pretty big advantage. To be able to focus in on Homestead as early as you can is big. I think as you go through the Chase you have to take it one race at a time and adjust your strategy depending on how you finish the previous race.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED BY THE NUMBER OF THROWBACK SCHEMES AT THIS ONE RACE? “This is cool that they kind of helped the teams to promote doing this. I would assume that as big of a hit as this has been – before we got here we knew this was going to be a big hit and everyone was excited about it. I would assume they will do this next year. I hope they do. I think with more time to think about what they want to do with their scheme it would be a really cool thing to do. There is no better race track to do this at. Darlington, with the history behind it and how it has kind of really stuck true to its roots is pretty neat to have all the throwback schemes as well.”
SINCE LEAVING JOE GIBBS RACING, ARE YOU SURPRISED HOW THEY HAVE BOUNCED BACK BUT SEEM STRONGER THAN EVER WITH THE FOUR CAR ORGANIZATION? DO YOU BELIEVE THEY ARE GOING TO BE YOUR TRUE COMPETITION GOING TO THE FINISH LINE? “Am I surprised? No. There are a lot of smart people over there. I know that. I wouldn’t just single them out as the only guys we will be racing with all the way to Homestead. Hopefully we are racing at Homestead, number one. But they do have four fast race cars right now and that is something to be said there. It is hard to have that many cars that are fast. A lot of times you see organizations with three or four teams and it is hard to have all of them running as well as JGR is right now.”
HAVING BEEN IN THAT ENVIRONMENT AND KNOWING IT SO WELL, ARE YOU KIND OF BLOWN AWAY THOUGH THAT THEY ARE AS STRONG AS THEY ARE TOP TO BOTTOM RIGHT NOW? “I wouldn’t say I am blown away by it. They have definitely gotten a lot more speed over the last year, whether with three teams or four teams. I think they took on a heck of a challenge by adding another car over there. With the amount of people you have to hire and to gain that chemistry within the teams, it is hard to build and they did that pretty quick. Carl (Edwards) had a little bit of a bumpy start but now he is as good as his teammates out there and running up front. There is always that learning curve but to start a team like that and have it go so well, isn’t that surprising but I do understand what that challenge is and it is pretty impressive.”
WHAT MAKES THIS TRACK SO TOUGH FOR YOU? DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE CLOSING IN ON WHERE YOU WANT TO BE HERE? “That stinking wall out there. That is what makes it tough. Eventually most everyone hits it. If you can get through a weekend here without touching it, it is really hard to do. This is one of those race tracks that the more laps you can run on it, the more comfortable you get. We have had fast race cars before. We started on the front row here last year but we have always had something go wrong or I have made a mistake or something. The XFINITY car, we have had fast cars here before but it is just one of those race tracks that is a grueling race – 500 miles around this place feels like the Coca-Cola 600. It is a long, long race. It takes its toll on the car and driver and team. If you can get through this thing and get a decent finish it is key. You can’t relax out there and just click off laps because then you aren’t fast. You have to charge. You have to run hard but you have to weigh the risk versus reward for the whole race.”
WHEN WE GET TO RICHMOND. DO YOU SENSE DESPERATION AMONG THE GUYS ON THE TRACK DESPERATE TO WIN THAT RACE? “A lot of it just depends on how those guys get through this weekend. There is a pretty far separation between cars right now in the top 13, 14, 15 or 16. They are all fairly spread out right now. The ones that are in probably feel okay because you have a lot of points to fall back on but if one of those guys outside there wins then it will be a whole different ballgame. You will have some cars that, depending on how they get out of here, guys with different agendas. Some guys will want to just finish 20th and some will say they have to finish top-five and some will have to win. It is just different mentalities for each driver when you get to Richmond and really this race as well and probably the previous three or four races for what they have to do to get into the Chase. That is the goal. If you are sitting there on the bubble and know you have to finish in the top-20 to do it, it is hard to say don’t go for the win, you want to go for the win no matter what but you don’t want to finish 40th. You don’t want to screw up your chance to go for a championship. Everyone has a different agenda when they get out there.”
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STUPID MOVE ON THE RACE TRACK AND A BRAVE MOVE? “A brave move is when it works. A stupid move is when it didn’t work. For me, I don’t know if I can pinpoint one move. Most of them happen on restarts, going three or four wide and doing something crazy to try to gain some positions. One that takes out the whole field and everyone looks at you like it was stupid, but if it works it is an awesome brave move. If it went the other way, it would be a completely different reaction obviously. You calculate as much as you can, you don’t have much time, but you calculate the decisions you make in the race car as quick as you can in determining what point of the race it is, what you are trying to accomplish by doing it. I can’t think right now of a moment for me that was a great moment of a bad moment but it all just depends on everyone’s opinion.”
HOW MUCH OF THIS RACE DO YOU USE FOR THIS YEAR AND HOW MUCH FOR NEXT YEAR IN TERMS OF THE RACE PACKAGE? “It is still a momentum builder. I feel like the 22 team has a lot of momentum with the wins we have had in the last few weeks. We are building the confidence up in our team. Even though this isn’t a package we will race in the Chase, even though Bristol is a 2015 package and what we will race in the Chase, it is nothing like anywhere else we go. So you can say the same about that track as well. We want to go out there and win. Is it the Southern 500. You really want to have that on your resume. If you don’t run well here you will try to look past it and say it isn’t the same package we will race in the Chase and all that, and it is and it isn’t. A lot of stuff you do here won’t work when we go to Chicago. At the same time, we are going to put a lot of effort into this race. We aren’t going to be cruising into the Chase. We want to try to go out and win this thing.”
WHAT THINGS DO YOU THINK DANICA PATRICK HAS DONE WELL ON THE TRACK AND WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WILL TAKE FOR HER TO WIN HER FIRST RACE? “I am probably a little bit too far removed to understand what it will take for her to win the race. I am not in the organization. I am not part of the day to day conversations. As a teammate maybe I could answer that, but I am not so it is hard for me to answer that question of where that team is at or the car is at or the driver. I don’t know. I am not part of that. I do see improvements though over the last few years for sure. She has gotten faster and more competitive on the race track and I think everyone has noticed that.”
