Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano hopes to end Nationwide season on high note
Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano has won five NASCAR Nationwide Series races this season.
// David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch will clinch the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series championship when he takes the green flag in Saturday’s Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but teammate Joey Logano could be the driver to beat in the race.
While Busch has garnered most of the attention in the series this season, Logano has still done well. In a limited Nationwide schedule, he has still managed to win five times in 21 starts.
Three of those wins came at 1.5-mile tracks like Homestead, and the others came at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway and the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway.
“I’m looking forward to going back to Homestead,” Logano said. “We had a good car there last year, qualified on the pole and led a few laps. Homestead is a great race track. You can move around a lot and find the right line for your car.
“We are taking our California car, so, hopefully, we will have the same finish. A win this weekend would give us a lot of momentum heading into the offseason.”
Logano’s No. 20 team is sixth in the Nationwide owners standings, though only Busch’s No. 18 team has more victories.
The 2009 season has flown by for Logano, 19, who looks forward to more wins next season.
“When the season starts at Daytona, you think that Homestead is so far away,” Logano said. “Then it gets here before you know it, and it’s hard to believe. This season has been awesome. The GameStop Toyota has always been fast and fun to drive. I’ve had such great support from my team and from the fans that I don’t want to stop. But Daytona will be here quicker than Homestead.”
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway, 1.5-mile oval
Distance: 200 laps, 300 miles
Favorites: Jeff Burton has two wins in six series starts at Homestead; Carl Edwards has one win and the best average finish of the drivers entered, 6.5; Ryan Newman has one win and an average finish of 6.7 at Homestead; Kyle Busch would love nothing more than to close out his title with a victory; Logano has won three races on 1.5-mile tracks this season.
Points battle: Busch clinches the championship by starting the race. Edwards has a 60-point edge on Brad Keselowski for second.
Notes of interest: Keselowski makes his final start for JR Motorsports … Kelly Bires makes his first appearance for JRM, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet … Penske Racing’s Justin Allgaier holds an eight-point lead on Rusty Wallace Racing’s Brendan Gaughan in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings … Penske Racing’s Parker Kligerman will attempt to make his second Nationwide race of the season … The season-ending awards ceremony will be held Monday after the race as part of the Nationwide/Camping World Truck series banquet at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach.
Quotable: “Homestead is a track that I really like, even though the record books like to tell a different story.” – David Reutimann, a Florida native who has a best finish of 12th at Homestead in five starts.
