Pit Note No. 4:
Logano Wins Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Joey Logano had the dominate car Sunday, leading 227 of the race's 334 laps, to win the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and secure his spot in the third round of NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Logano won by just under one second over second place finisher and defending race winner Kevin Harvick. Martin Truex Jr. posted a strong third place finish in the fall classic, which was postponed from Saturday because of weather.
Logano took the lead for the first time on lap 77 and set sail to claim his 12th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win, including his first at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
"What a great car," said Logano. "We led a ton of laps. Anytime you have a car that good you hope that something doesn't go wrong. Obviously, getting this win at Charlotte means a lot because everyone's race team is located here."
There were nine caution periods that consumed a total of 44 laps as several top contenders encountered troubles. Rounding out the top 10 were Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Austin Dillon, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola.
Bank of America 500 Post Race Notes
Winner - Joey Logano (No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford) "What a great car. We led a ton of laps. This makes Talladega easier, since everyone has that on their minds in this round. Any time you have a car that fast, you just hope that something doesn't go wrong. Everyone did a great job. Todd (Gordon) made great calls; the pit crew was on top of it, as they have been most of this year. It is really special to have a perfect day. You don't have that very often. Usually, during a 500-mile race you have to overcome something. But today, everything went as planned. Obviously, getting this win at Charlotte means a lot, mainly because everyone's race team is here. This is home turf for everyone. You want to win in front of your race team that typically doesn't get to come. You get to celebrate with the guys you don't normally get to celebrate with. So, that is special. Obviously, to get through to the next round, because the pressure that these guys are going to have to get to the next round gets big. That is going to pay big dividends."
Team Owner - Roger Penske - "It's one thing to come here and lead 20 laps here, but to have the pit crew put you back out front, it was a credit to his (Logano) driving the car that was put under him. We have come a long way. For Joey, he's come on our team and done nothing but gone straight up from the standpoint of where he is at. It was a real team effort. The way he drove today… I think anytime you can beat the 4 car (Harvick) you have done something. I think it was good that we could be on a level playing field with him today."
Crew Chief - Todd Gordon - "We looked at the weather coming into the weekend and during practice we had a daytime practice and a nighttime practice. We took the effort to make longer runs on older tires to balance it both ways. I was pretty happy with our car in both conditions. I felt pretty optimistic about what we had in the sunshine today. I love it when these race tracks run in the sun and get a little hotter and slicker. That's where this guy (Logano) shines his talent."
Second Place - Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Jimmy John's/Budweiser Chevrolet) "I thought things went well. The guys did a great job on pit road. We were able to capitalize on their solid day. They gained track position. The car wasn't good there but we were able to make head way on it and make gains and do the things to make it better. In the end, that is what you want to do on a day like today. We made a really good day out if it. With some of the guys having trouble, you want to capitalize on it. It was definitely one of those days that could have been better, but could have been a lot worse."
Third Place - Martin Truex Jr. (No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet) "We feel great about third. Honestly, we had a tough weekend. I thought after practice, we would be lucky to run fifteenth. I am proud of Cole (crew chief Cole Pearn) and the engineers, just everybody for sticking with it and having a good game plan. We had a good car today. We fought track position all day. Once we got up towards the front it had good speed. I'm just proud of the guys for never quitting and just fighting hard all weekend. They did a good job today. It was a good race for us."
