AVONDALE, Ariz. – Joey Logano’s momentum in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs hit a snag during Sunday afternoon’s Can-Am 500 at ISM Raceway.
Logano who will compete for the Cup championship next weekend at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway by virtue of his Martinsville (Va.) Speedway last month suffered his first DNF (did not finish) in 13 races after cutting a tire on Lap 96 sending his No. 22 Pennzoil-Shell Ford into the outside wall.
“The left-rear tire went flat. I don’t really know why,” said Logano. “It just kind of came out of nowhere. We may have run something over, I don’t know. I went down on the flat a couple laps earlier to make a pass and I don’t know if it hit a little bit hard, maybe it knocked the fender into it, who knows what happened there, but she just went out.
“I tried to save it. I thought I had it saved, but by the time I got it straightened back out the rest of the tires were flat because I had them flat-spotted. That’s what it is. We’ll move on. We’re locked into Miami, so it doesn’ t really matter, so we’ll keep our heads high.”
The Middletown, Connecticut native qualified ninth Friday for the penultimate race of the season but faded to 18th by the end of Stage 1 when adjustments were made to his race car.
Logano made significant progress in the early laps of Stage 2 but saw an opportunity for his 26th top-10 finish of the year deflate when the right-rear tire went flat causing Logano to lose control of his car and hit the wall.
Daniel Suarez and Matt Kenseth also collided while trying to avoid the spinning Logano.
Unable to drive his Team Penske Ford back to the garage, Logano climbed from his car and took the mandatory trip to the infield care center.
Logano finished 37th, his worst result since finishing 37th at Watkins Glen in August.
Even with his worst finish in the Playoffs this season, Logano doesn’t believe his momentum has been broken heading to Homestead.
“No, I don’t think so,” Logano said on momentum. “These things are out of your control, so it doesn’t really knock your confidence down because there’s not much you can do about it anyway.”
Logano knows that without the security of his Martinsville win, he’d be battling for a win, instead of a championship, but the 28-year-old is chalking Phoenix up to a racing deal – and turning his attention towards the Ford EcoBoost 400 on Nov. 18.
“We’d be out. You can’t afford to have that happen in this Round of 8. We won Martinsville and that’s the reason why we’re gonna race at Miami. It is what it is. We’ll move on from this. There’s not much we can do about a tire going flat. It is what it is.
There’s nothing my team could do different, so there’s really nothing to get depressed about. We’re just staying confident and keeping our heads high because I still feel like we’ve got a great shot at winning this championship when we get to Miami. This doesn’t affect anything.”
“We’ll just go to Miami and race for a championship.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
