Joey Logano No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota, celebrates as he becomes the youngest driver, at age 19 years, one month and four days, to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday in the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (Photo Credit: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway
The Home Depot Team Notes of Interest
· Joey Logano became the youngest winner in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in just his 20th-career start. Logano took the honor from teammate Kyle Busch when he captured the checkered flag in the rain-shortened race at the age of 19 years, 1 month and 4 days.
· Logano and The Home Depot Team will be looking for retribution at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) on Saturday night. Logano’s first trip to DIS in the Daytona 500 did not go as planned for the 19-year-old rookie. After starting from the ninth position, Logano was running 25th when he was involved in a multi-car incident that relegated the rookie to a 43rd-place finish.
· Logano moved up to 21st in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings following his win last Sunday and sits just six points out of the top 20. Over the last 10 races, Logano and The Home Depot Team have climbed from 31st in the standings to 21st. They have finished in the top 25 in the past 10 races which included one win and four top 10s and have completed all but two laps.
· Welcome aboard The Home Depot Associates from store # 2563 Cockeysville, Md. The No. 20 Toyota will carry the store number under the lights at Daytona International Speedway. Cockeysville is located north of the beltway surrounding Baltimore.
· Logano became the first Cup rookie to win a race since 2007 and just the second rookie to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He increased his lead in the 2009 Raybestos standings to 31 points (199-168) over Scott Speed.
· The Home Depot Team is taking chassis #243 to the track this weekend for the Coke Zero 400. Logano drove this chassis at Talladega Superspeedway in April to his first career top-10 finish. He started from the 22nd position and drafted up to ninth when the checkered flag waved.
· Giving back: The Home Depot is partnering with the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) to present The NMPA Home Depot Humanitarian Award. The 2009 NASCAR season is the third year the award will be presented and the winner of the 2009 award will be announced at NASCAR NMPA Myers Brother Awards luncheon in Las Vegas in December. The award recognizes an individual in the NASCAR community that has shown a dedication to helping others and improving communities through their service and giving. The award winner will receive a $100,000 donation made by The Home Depot to the recipient’s charity of choice while the two finalists will each receive a $25,000 donation to their designated non-profit organization. To nominate an individual for the NMPA Home Depot Humanitarian Award log onto www.homedepotracing.com/humanitarian.
· HomeDepotRacing.com has been revamped for the 2009 season. Fans can track Joey’s races and appearances throughout the season, read about his experiences during his rookie campaign in Joey’s Journal and ask Joey questions that he will answer for fans.
· To access the online media guide visit: www.elevationgrp.com/homedepot.
Logano Quotes:
On the team’s momentum
“Last weekend was huge for us, it keeps building on our momentum and that’s huge. Right now every point counts, 100 points can move you up to 17th or drop you back to 24th. Our goal is to finish solidly inside the top 20 and we are on our way. I really feel like we are getting better every week and now we will start to see tracks for the second time.”
On Daytona
“This is still going to be a difficult race for me. I didn’t get to run as many laps at Daytona as I wanted to in February and it is so different than Talladega. Daytona is about handling and I know when we did the tire test it was slick. I can only imagine in the heat of July how much hotter it will be and slicker it will be. I know everyone is in the same boat, but at least they have an idea of what to expect. If we can get out of Daytona with a solid finish, Chicago should be a good race for us.”
Zipadelli Quotes:
On the pressure
“There is always pressure, even with the win. As an entire organization we need to have three quality race teams out there running in the top 10 and fighting for top fives and wins every week. We’ve got a great sponsor in The Home Depot and we made a commitment to them. They have been with us for 11 years and we gave them our word that we would do everything that we could to get them in Victory Lane and put this car up front where it needs to be. Joey has done a great job of handling pressure at just 19. We have a ton of room to grow and he has done a phenomenal job.”
On Daytona
“Daytona is going to be tough for us. We didn’t get to run that many laps because we wrecked in the Shootout and the 500. Joey did get a good run in at Talladega and a lot of drafting practice, but that is a little bit easier track since they repaved it. Daytona is going to be the slickest, hottest, hardest racetrack to get around that we go to this year. We are going to work hard and make sure that we don’t put ourselves in a bad position so we can run all day. The most important thing is that Joey needs to learn so when we go back in February we feel like he can continue to progress.”
- Elevation Group of Companies for Joe Gibbs Racing/Home Depot Racing, Press Release