Phoenix: Joey Logano preview

The Home Depot Team Notes of Interest

* Joey Logano will make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) this weekend in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Logano has competed at the one-mile track in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World West Series. He did participate in a Goodyear tire test at the track earlier this season with crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the No. 20 team.

* Welcome aboard The Home Depot Associates from Fargo, N.D. and Watsonville, Calif. Store #3701 from Fargo and store #1069 from Watsonville will be recognized on The Home Depot Toyota this weekend in Phoenix as it carries their store numbers in the Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday.

* The Home Depot Racing Team and crew chief Zipadelli have 14 starts at Phoenix. The team has one win, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes. In last year's Subway Fresh Fit 500 the team started 29th and finished 22nd, one lap down to the leader.

* Logano tested two days this week in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. He spent Monday at Virginia International Raceway and Tuesday at Little Rock in Rockingham, N.C.

* Logano earned Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the fifth time in seven races two weeks ago in Texas. Logano increased his lead to 12 points (75-63) over Scott Speed. Last year's top rookie finished 20th in the 500-mile race at PIR in April.

Joey Logano:

On racing at Phoenix...
"I love Phoenix. It could be one of my favorite tracks, if not my favorite. There's just something about it - I took to that place immediately. I ran the Camping World West race out there and won that. I should have won the Nationwide race out there last year so we have been fast every time we've been there. I got to do the tire test out there in The Home Depot Toyota and it's just a place that I seem to understand well. It's got two different ends - one is real sharp and you have to keep working on your forward drive off that one and the other is sweeping, more like a New Hampshire corner. It's cool and it wears out your tires quite a bit and you have to be smart out there with your tires.

On the win last weekend...
"The victory last weekend is definitely a confidence booster for the team and me. This year has been tough. I've said it before the Sprint Cup Series is the very best drivers. When I look back at my two Nationwide wins and two of my poles, they have come at the tracks I did the most testing in the Cup car last year when we were able to test. Now, we can't test as rookies so it's harder to adjust to the tracks and everyone knows laps are important. But we continue to improve throughout the races and that's what we need to do. I'm really looking forward to this weekend."

Greg Zipadelli:

On Logano's Nationwide win...
"His Nationwide win is exciting for everyone involved. It's a big deal. It's his second win and the more he wins over there the more people have the chance to see that he is for real. Hopefully he can take it to Phoenix, which is a place he's run well. We had a tire test there so he's had a chance to run some laps there in The Home Depot car."

On the tire test in Phoenix...
"We got a chance to run there and compare ourselves to a couple of other teams. He was able to get two days in the new car and it allows us to at least have a starting point to work from with him instead of basing it off what we've done in the past with another driver."

-credit: jgr