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Kansas: Winning team interview

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop/Our House Party Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st How does this victory feel? "This is awesome. From last week to now -- talk about 'A to Z,' that's awesome. I needed a win to stop everyone ...

Edited: Oct 8, 2009, 2:27 AM

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

How does this victory feel?

"This is awesome. From last week to now -- talk about 'A to Z,' that's awesome. I needed a win to stop everyone talking about me if I'm going to be alright after that roll. I think this should prove it. This is awesome for this whole 20 bunch. They needed a win and it's awesome to give this GameStop Our House Party Toyota back in here. This is a blast racing this car."

How'd you pass Kyle Busch for the win?

"Dig down deep and give it all I got. I felt like I had a good restart and the 88 (Brad Keselowski) was pushing the 18 (Kyle Busch) ahead and I can't get in front of him like that. That was all I had, I knew I wasn't going to get him on the bottom. I just get real aero-tight all day. I couldn't pass on the bottom. I started working the top and driving my guts out for everything it was worth. Driving in and stopping him 'friggen,' right on the gas. I was driving my brains out and it was fun. These guys deserve it. They needed to be back in victory lane. They're a winning team and getting them back in here feels great."

What does it mean to see your team with you in victory lane?

"It's great. I couldn't ask for anything better. These guys, Dave (Rogers, crew chief) probably gave me the biggest pep talk I've ever had before the race started. That's something that goes a long way for me. You pump me up, I go. That's pretty funny, he asked me before the last restart how hungry I was and I said, 'I'm starving. ' We got it here."

Are you surprised you won today's race?

"He (Kyle Busch) dominated the race, no kidding on that. I gave it all I got and dug as hard as I could every lap for everything I'm worth. After I got by the 88 (Brad Keselowski) on the restart, I thought I had a shot at it. I felt like I was pretty good the long green flag run before the restart and then there was another restart that I felt like I was gaining on him. I knew I had to go to the high side. My car was too aero-tight when we got behind cars so we had to go where no one was pretty much for me to go fast. I got out there, I had a big run and got outside of him and kept digging. It was a blast."

What happened with that three-wide pass you attempted on Brad Keselowski and Greg Biffle?

"I was laughing under the last caution about that. I was talking to my spotter about what he thought about that. I came off (turn) four, when cars get door-to-door, aero-wise it just slows these cars down so much. I had a run and I was like, 'I don't know what to do with this thing.' So, I just sent it in there and it worked out for the best. We got past one car out of it. It's the end of the race and you have to make some desperate moves sometimes."

What was the difference in your race car at the end?

"I don't know. We adjusted on this car all day. We kept freeing it up and it'd get close and then it would go back the other way and get close again. I felt like after our last pit stop was too loose to start, this is going to be good, it's going to tighten up a bit and be right there by the end of the run, which it was. It was perfect, ran out perfect for us."

Does it feel like you have to pass Kyle Busch late in the race to win?

"Is it every one I've got the same way? I think it is. Four out of five -- that's interesting to me. I never think that. I was sitting there after our last pit stop, we came out and I was chasing the car everywhere -- she was loose. It was going to be good, this is a good thing. It's been tightening up on me. The restart happened and we got by the 88 (Brad Keselowski) and on the last restart I was able -- had a run on Kyle (Busch) on the restart getting underneath him but once we got underneath him it was dead sideways chasing this thing. I was trying not to wreck my teammate and I had to rethink this and try something else. That's when I started moving around."

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

What was your key to winning today's race?

"From top of the pit box, our teammate really beat us all day. They just had a better race car, a faster race car. They were making small adjustments. We communicate back and forth with them throughout the race over the computer. They were tweaking on their car and I knew they were better than us. We had Joey (Logano) in the car here, and we're not points racing, we're here to win, so we were throwing the kitchen sink at it. We were throwing a 'Hail Mary' every single pit stop. There we had to make a full fuel run, we knew we'd been tight all day so I really freed it up. My prayer was, 'Please don't let this kid wreck in the first five laps' because we weren't going to be loose and we were and lost a couple spots. It just put off at the end that it was good enough, 60 laps into a run for Joey (Logano) to do what Joey does."

-credit: toyota motorsports

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