BROOKLYN, Mich. – Despite his ninth-place qualifying effort Friday evening at Michigan International Speedway, Team Penske’s Joey Logano found himself starting Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 from the rear of the field after his team made an unapproved adjustment on pit road prior to the green flag.
Some miscommunication between crew chief Todd Gordon and the shock specialist saw the wrong shock put on Logano’s No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion before pre-race inspection.
Luckily, the team was able to catch the mistake but took a costly penalty in the process – lining up at the rear of the field for the 200-lap race.
It took until Stage 2 for Logano to make his presence known inside the top-10 and a series of late-race green-flag pit stop strategies hampered the opportunity to better his seventh-place finish in the Irish Hills in June.
Logano, however, still finished 10th, claiming his 16th top-10 finish of the year.
The Middletown, Ct. native felt he had a better car – but restarts were his achilles heel.
“It is frustrating. I felt like we finished 10th with a fifth-place car today. I couldn’t restart very well, and I lost spots on every restart.
“I am proud of the team though. Everyone else did good, I just wasn’t able to get anything going on the restarts and that made life really difficult today.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
