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Chicagoland: Winning team interview

JOEY LOGANO , No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st Were you worried about the final restart? "The last restart I got beat and the other restarts, too -- I don't know why. The final one (restart) -- the 38 ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:39 PM

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JOEY LOGANO , No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st

Were you worried about the final restart?

"The last restart I got beat and the other restarts, too -- I don't know why. The final one (restart) -- the 38 (Jason Leffler) was there hanging with me and I just drove it into (turn) one as hard as I can and hope for the best. Once we got a big enough gap -- Kyle (Busch) got in that dirty air and we were able to pull away. I was really surprised. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) thought I was done. I was like; 'We're not done yet. We're not done yet.' But, deep down inside I thought I was. This is really awesome. We've come up second three times, so it's cool to get a win."

What does it mean to beat Kyle Busch?

"It's awesome, man.  If you looked at every one of my victories -- it's been
a one-two finish between me and Kyle (Busch).  That's pretty neat.  New
Hampshire -- we finished one and two.  So, that's awesome."

What does this win mean to you?

"What an awesome win, I'll tell you. The fastest car won the race. I didn't think the fastest car was going to win the race there at the end. Clean air was huge. It's cool to get the GameStop Toyota back in victory lane. We finished second in New Hampshire and I think we finished fourth last week (Daytona), so it's cool to keep this thing up front with these guys. It's so much fun coming over here."

What were you thinking on the final restart?

"I didn't think I had him (Kyle Busch). Especially on the restart where the 38 (Jason Leffler) was able to stick with me and Kyle (Busch) was right behind me. I cleared the 38 (Jason Leffler) and Kyle (Busch) was about a half-a-car back. I went; 'Oh boy, here we go. This is the end of this one.' And I just kept driving my brains out hoping for the best and he (Kyle Busch) got in the dirty air and I got in the clean air and just kept pulling away."

Did you think the decision to not pit on the final caution was the wrong choice?

"This guy (Dave Rogers, crew chief) is a heck of a motivator. I don't know if you've ever heard him on the radio, that guy will make you drive harder than anyone out there. You can have a ninth-place car and he'll make you think you have a first-place car. Always being confident on the radio helps me a lot as a driver. I was going off what he said. At first I thought this was going to be bad and then he made me think 50-50 of what it was going to be. Either way, I just drove my brains out."

DAVE ROGERS , crew chief, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What was your view of the final restart?

"For the entire night, the GameStop Toyota looked really good. Joey (Logano) did a great job. It's just fun to watch from my perspective how he negotiated lapped traffic -- how he drove into turn one. Just a masterful job of driving, I thought. The pit call there at the end was about three-years-old right now. I just thought that if the caution was long enough and we had a chance to cool our tires and three or four cars stayed out with us, that clean air would prevail.

"Everyone scans the entire field, I was scanning everyone and they were saying; 'Follow the leader.' I thought we had enough people to stay out to make it work, but we had such a big lead that I think a lot of the cars took the 18 (Kyle Busch) as the leader and they followed him onto pit road and really hung us out there. I'm not going to take credit for the call, the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing built an excellent race car and Joey Logano is a heck of a wheelman and made it happen at the end."

-credit: toyota motorsports

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