Joey Logano had the dominant car at Pocono, leading 97 of 160 laps, but the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford ran out of fuel and ran out of luck at the same time on Sunday afternoon.
Logano was leading when his fuel cell went dry on Lap 158, and he surrendered the top spot to Kyle Busch, who subsequently ran out of fuel himself.
To add insult to injury, Logano was assessed a pit road speeding penalty when he coasted in to get enough gas to finish the race. He was credited with a 20th-place finish, the last car on the lead lap and the victim of another close call.
Logano had run second to Kyle Busch in two of the previous three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, at Kentucky and Indianapolis.
“I thought I was going to be good, and then I started running out and knew we weren’t going to make it,” Logano said. “It was tough. We did everything right today. We had such a fast Shell Pennzoil Ford and got clean air and stayed up there, and the pit crew did awesome on pit road and kept me up where I needed to be.
“We keep getting so close to these wins, and they don’t happen, and it’s so frustrating. The truth is that, if we keep racing hard and racing to the front, we will win races. We were so close. You are counting down the laps in your head, thinking you are going to make it, but just didn’t do it. I am so proud still of what we did today, and it was a great weekend and we’re happy about the speed we have in our cars and the way we executed.
“We just have to figure out why we didn’t have enough gas.”
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
