Jayski's NASCAR Archives

Logano dominates Pocono, then runs out of fuel:

#22-Joey Logano dominated Sunday’s Windows 10 400 at Pocono Raceway, leading 97 of the 160 laps before running out of fuel while leading with just three laps to go and eventually finishing 20th. With fuel strategy likely to decide the winner of the race, Crew Chief Todd Gordon called Logano to pit road for the final time on lap 123, leaving 37 laps to the finish. Logano would again find his way to the front and pull to a big lead before Gordon ordered Logano to start saving fuel. With many of the front runners saving gas, Logano continued to hold a commanding lead while in fuel conservation mode. However, with just three laps to go and while in the lead, Logano ran out of fuel on the back stretch and coasted to the pits, losing the top spot. Logano then got a speeding penalty while coasting in to get gas, relegating him to 20th as the checkers flew. Logano Quote: “I guess our numbers, from what Todd said, was good enough to make it by a half a lap. I was saving fuel just to cushion it. I thought I was going to be good and then I started running out and knew we weren’t going to make it. It was tough. We did everything right today. We had such a fast Shell Pennzoil Ford and got clean air and stayed up there and the pit crew did awesome on pit road and kept me up where I needed to. We keep getting so close to these wins and they don’t happen and it is so frustrating. The truth is that is if we keep racing hard and racing to the front we will win races. We were so close. You are counting down the laps in your head thinking you are going to make it but just didn’t do it. I am so proud still of what we did today and it was a great weekend and we are happy about the speed we have in our cars and the way we executed, we just have to figure out why we didn’t have enough gas.”(Team Penske)(8-3-2015)