Team Penske’s Joey Logano in the No.22 Autotrader Ford Mustang scored victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the AMBETTER Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Logano took pole for the race on Saturday and in taking victory he took his maiden Atlanta win and his first win of the 2023 season.
In a post race interview, Logano was said:
We lost our track position there for a minute, but was able to just stay patient and work on it and this amazing fast race car allowed me to really make some great moves on the racetrack and getting the push there on the last lap to get to the outside of Brad. Just getting to break the plane of his back bumper was gonna be my only chance there and I was able to get him there and get the push from the 20 on the backstretch. Overall, just a really fast Ford Mustang is what it came down to. It’s nice to win with Autotrader on the car. I don’t think I’ve ever won a race without Shell on the car. It means a lot to get this one in Victory Lane. It’s been a lot of years coming. Atlanta, this means so much to me to win here. So many memories of driving my Legends car right here where we’re standing when I was 9 years old. This is a really special one and a dream come true.”
YOU WERE ABLE TO CONTROL THE FIELD MUCH OF THE DAY, BUT HOW DID IT CHANGE THE FINAL STAGE?
“The intensity ratcheted up, obviously. I’ve got great teammates and I wanted to stick with them. There were plenty of times I could have moved up, but I didn’t want to leave my teammates down there. I wanted them behind me. I knew how fast their cars were. If I could pick one, that’s the one I want, so I was able to try to keep them with me. I thought with two to go the outside lane got three cars, four cars clear and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna make it here,’ but I got a good push – enough to get to the outside of the 6 and that was the big difference.”
Joey Logano, finally your first win here at Atlanta. You just got a big hug, your dad ran all the way out here to hug you. How did you guys nail the setup of this car? So many questions coming into it.
Yeah, first off so special to win Atlanta for me. So many memories of me and my dad racing right here on the quarter mile. This is the full circle for us. So many memories gritting over there with the Legends car, racing, having a big time.
Dreaming of going straight at the quarter mile and going on to the big track. That was always the dream to do it. To finally win here means so much to me here personally, but the team. The Auto Trader Mustang.
This thing was an animal. Very, very fast. Able to lead a ton of laps, race really hard there at the end, get a good push from the 20 to clear myself. Enough of a push to get in.
Huge victory. Nice to get one early in the season. Always feels better. But what a great day for us.
You dominated today, but came down to the decisions on the last few laps. Take us through what it’s like in this high-speed chess match, the patience and commitment from your spotter to get it done.
Coleman is amazing. He’s the best spotter on the roof by a longshot. Gave me great information the whole time to be able to make the right moves on the racetrack. He understands it so well, that on top of the car that Paul gave me. A really special race team to be able to maximize what we had here today. Fast car, great team.
(1) Joey Logano, Ford, 260.
(4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 260.
(10) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 260.
(31) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 260.
(16) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 260.
(14) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 260.
(3) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 260.
(28) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 260.
(35) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 260.
(17) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 260.
(2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 260.
(22) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 260.
(18) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 260.
(15) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 260.
(23) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 260.
(30) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 260.
(27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 260.
(21) Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 260.
(29) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 260.
(13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 260.
(12) Michael McDowell, Ford, 260.
(20) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 260.
(26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 260.
(8) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 259.
(32) Cody Ware, Ford, 258.
(34) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 258.
(19) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 255.
(24) Ryan Preece, Ford, 244.
(25) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, DVP, 213.
(5) Aric Almirola, Ford, Accident, 208.
(9) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 208.
(11) William Byron, Chevrolet, Accident, 192.
(6) Kevin Harvick, Ford, Accident, 190.
(33) Harrison Burton, Ford, DVP, 190.
(7) Chris Buescher, Ford, Accident, 189.
(36) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, Accident, 189.