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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: SPRINT UNLIMITED

February 13, 2016

Joey Logano

Daytona Beach, Florida

THE MODERATOR: We're going to get started with our post‑race press conferences for tonight's Sprint Unlimited. We are joined by our second place finisher, the driver the No.22 Shell‑Pennzoil Ford, Joey Logano. Talk about the last few laps as you came in second.
JOEY LOGANO: It was close. It was a lot of fun out there. We had a really good show, Shell‑Pennzoil. We started last and worked our way up towards the front. It was really quick the first part of the race, and we kept putting four tires on, which kind of set us back towards the middle and then worked our way back up and made one mistake and lost some spots and started getting back up there at the end, and for all‑‑ I'm proud of the speed we had. We were close to almost winning it.
The caution that came out at the end, if I was able to get that push from Larson before he got really loose, that may have gave me enough to push out in front of the 11 possibly, or at least to stay next to him for another lap and try to be door to door to cross the line. But you know, overall, speedway racing sometimes it's hard to pass for the lead for sure. I thought the restart was going to be a good opportunity to start next to the leader and try to jump out in front of him, and just didn't line up perfectly tonight. But that's okay. Obviously, like I said, we're picking up where we left off from last year, so looking forward to the 500.

Q. We talk all the time about how this race is kind of a prelude to the 500 and it's an opportunity to kind of learn things in advance of next Sunday. But with the way people are so aggressive on Saturday night, is there really anything you can take out of it?
JOEY LOGANO: Oh, yeah, there's a lot. I don't know if you watched the 500 last year, but it was pretty aggressive at the end when they were three wide and all bumping each other. It was awesome. I don't expect anything less when it comes to next Sunday.
You know, there's a lot to learn for sure. It's nice just to knock the rust off, let the guys make a pit stop or two, and let my spotter and myself kind of get used to running a draft again and make sure we remember everything. I didn't forget everything, so that's good. You know, so definitely learned a lot for sure, but it's also all about the trophy tonight, and we came up short.
But I guess the good news is isn't it one guy ever that's won the Unlimited win the 500? It was like Dale Jarrett a long time ago? In '93? It hasn't happened since I was three years old. I feel pretty good about that. That's the silver lining on this whole thing.

Q. It happened in 2000.
JOEY LOGANO: Shoot. You guys looked that up, didn't you? Man, I thought I saw that stat earlier.

Q. So you've had your first overtime restart. What's your verdict?
JOEY LOGANO: Nothing different, because the‑‑ we took the white flag under green, so if it was last year's green‑white‑checker policy, it would have been the same. It never came into play. The only way it would have came into play is if the caution came out before we got to the white flag, which it didn't, so the rule didn't really come into play to be any different than what it used to be this time.

Q. First of all, it seemed like there was some strange bedfellows out there a couple of times with you maybe working with guys that you hadn't worked with before or different manufacturers or things like that. Did that cross your mind any at all tonight, that it's like, okay, this is not somebody that I usually am racing with and I know what they're going to do, or was it just a non‑factor? And also, your teammate Brad had some issues with debris on the front of his car, overheating like that. Did you have any heating issues whatsoever and is that a concern for you guys?
JOEY LOGANO: I think it's a huge concern. It looked like a landfill on the front straightaway. My dad was in the garbage company. I know all about it. It looked just like it.
It was tough. You know, when you're the leader you're the first one to pick it, and there's no way to get it off unless you give up the lead. And the same thing happened to Dale last year in this race is he got hot and he had to pit early. You know, the back straightaway is clean, so it's all coming from the grandstands. It's tough, you know, it's definitely a‑‑ there's not much you can do about it a lot of times. It's just floating around and it gets stuck on your nose.
But that definitely plays a lot into the first part of your question about who we work with. You know, if you have the option, you always go with someone you know. You know how they're going to play it out and you know how they are and you think is faster or a manufacturer that's the same as yours or a teammate. All that goes through your mind when you make decisions for sure, but sometimes you don't really have an option at the same time. Sometimes it's like, well, I've got to do this. But this is definitely a good race to definitely learn about your competitors. You know, we watched the race to see what moves people were making and stuff like that. It was kind of funny as the race kind of changed as guys learned what was going on out there. At the beginning of the race, I felt like it was more three‑wide racing, and then towards the middle, end of the race it was two wide and everyone protecting the top. It was funny how everyone kind of learned from the first half and changed what they were doing. It was interesting to me.

Q. Joey, with how crazy and chaotic it was on the track tonight, do you expect a relatively calm duel on Thursday night with the charter system in place?
JOEY LOGANO: Oh, I don't know. I don't know. It's a trophy to win there, too, right? I want that one. I don't know, man, I've got one speed, so I can tell you what the 22 car is doing and I can't control everybody else. My pedal is going to be to the metal, I know that much.

Q. Is there a way to have a race like this to where it doesn't turn out to be carnage like it is, or is that just the nature of where it's a non‑points race, you throw everything at it that you can?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I don't know if it's the fact that it's a non‑points race that plays into it, or it's just Superspeedway racing and it's just guys on the gas. We've seen crashes really early in the Daytona 500. That's a 500‑mile race, so we've seen it go both ways in this thing. But typically, yes, the Unlimited is a‑‑ there's a lot of crashes in it to say the least. Tonight there was a few for sure. It didn't seem like there was‑‑ I have to watch it, but I didn't think there was any huge pile‑ups, but I don't know. I don't see a whole bunch from where I'm at sometimes.

Q. Are there more crashes in this race than the All‑Star Race in your opinion?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, because typically at Charlotte maybe two cars will get into each other and crash, but here when two cars get into each other then it takes out five or six cars with them, so it's just the nature of the beast.

Q. I just caught the last part of it, so forgive me if you've gone over this, but you mentioned you thought the race was a little different. Was this that much of a different race than from what you've seen and experienced in years past, or what kind of stood out that made it feel a little bit more different?
JOEY LOGANO: I don't think it really was much different than last year to be honest with you, but just kind of the way different drivers‑‑ they changed the way they were driving their cars throughout the race it seemed to be. But there was nothing that stood out, like wow, that was way different or something played out different than what I thought was going to happen. Watching from last year to this year, I thought it was fairly similar the way the race played out, the way cautions fell. It all seemed to be fairly similar.

Q. The overtime procedure, what was it like going through that, and what do you pick up from that maybe moving forward since this was the first time?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I was saying earlier, no problem, I know you got in late, but it didn't really come into play because we took the white flag under green, which would be the end of the race in the old format and the new format. It didn't come into play this time. No change.

Q. You mentioned earlier about this is a good race to check out your competitors, and it seemed like tonight it was a lot of Penske versus Gibbs. At practice earlier today both organizations were fast. Could this be the theme of the week, the Penske‑versus‑Gibbs battle?
JOEY LOGANO: Seems like it's shaping up that way. But you know, I thought in practice today there was a lot of Hendrick cars, in particular the 24 and 88 cars seemed really fast and single‑car runs, and we're at Daytona so you never count out Junior or Jimmie or any of those guys.
We've seen here that anyone can win and anything can happen for sure, so you've definitely got to look at everyone as a threat for sure. But if you look at who led a lot of laps tonight and kind of the guys that were able to make the moves for the lead were guys with very good cars, yes, but also very experienced speedway racers that know what they have to do to make things happen.
Yeah, I think it definitely takes both when you come to a racetrack like this, and it's not like you can have a 30th place car and win here. It used to be like that when we had the tandem drafts and stuff, but now that it's a big pack, a fast car still helps.

Q. How was the first race with the digital dash at Daytona?
JOEY LOGANO: It was okay. You know, it's definitely different because you've got to get used to it for sure. You know, pit road is where it comes into play the most, right, and that's where you're trying to maximize your pit road speed without speeding. You know, it's tough because the dash is a little delayed to what's actually happening, so sometimes you're going faster than your dash tells you and then it catches up and you're slowing down in your lights and your tach is all off‑‑ it's just off a little bit just because it's delayed getting to the screen for some reason. There's not much we can do about that. Obviously it's given to us that way.
Yeah, there's definitely room for improvement I would say from that standpoint, but you know, it's interesting. It's different. It looks cool in there. Hey, we look cool.
THE MODERATOR: Joey, thanks, and good luck for the rest of Speedweeks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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