Richmond Practice Shunt Puts Logano Starting Deep

Joey Logano's wounded car in the garage area at Richmond Raceway Friday. (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

RICHMOND, Va. – It became a long weekend in a hurry for Team Penske and the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford team at Richmond Raceway, after Joey Logano made heavy contact with the wall roughly 10 minutes into his NASCAR Cup Series practice group on Friday.

The three-time and defending Cup Series champion was 38th overall, dead last, on the timing sheet when he experienced a flat right-front tire and went sliding into the turn-three wall.

Logano has experienced a mixed bag of results at Richmond, winning in two of his 31 career starts at the track, but he last won there in April of 2017 despite having eight top fives in 14 races since then.

At the time of the crash, Logano held the best average lap time including all the laps he had run to that point, but the lack of single-lap pace was admittedly concerning to the Middletown, Conn., native.

“It’s a bit of a head-scratcher, to be honest,” said Logano after climbing from his car. “Not exactly sure what caused [the issue]. Obviously, the car was pretty slow to start off too, which doesn’t really add up. You look at our lap times and they’re just slow.

“The car was really tight and then [the tire] just popped. It stopped holding air at some point, somewhere. Bummer, but they’re going to get it fixed up as best they can.”

While Logano’s Paul Wolfe-led team did make repairs and the car got back on track to qualify, a continued right-front tire rub kept Logano from completing a lap at speed, meaning he’ll start from the rear of the 38-car field Saturday night.

Fortunately for Logano, the 35-year-old won’t need to worry about going after the win in the Cook Out 400 to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, as he already reached victory lane earlier in the season at Texas Motor Speedway to lock in a postseason berth.

Logano currently sits 13th in the Cup Series point standings, preparing to defend his title from last year.

Broadcast coverage of Logano’s attempt to climb through the field at Richmond airs Saturday night, Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.