When the rains came to Pocono Raceway just past halfway, it appeared Joey Logano was going to have a stellar day.
Potential Pocono Win Dries Up For Joey Logano
After sitting on the pole and leading 43 laps, Logano was poised to win his second career Sprint Cup race and potentially solidify his spot as the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota.
During the rain delay, Logano boasted about holding off Jimmie Johnson before the rain hit and beamed at the opportunity to show The Home Depot he had what it takes to win.
“I just hope it keeps raining,” he said in the break. “That’s all I can do right now.”
But the rain ended and Logano and the majority of the field headed for pit road, all while the strategy played out for Penske Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Kurt Busch.
Restarting the race in fifth, Logano continued to contend for a spot in the top 10, leading another lap, but his chances at victory seemed to dry up with the rain.
Things got even worse for Logano as a flat tire with less than 20 laps to go brought the No. 20 car back to pit road under green.
Instead of celebrating his first win of the season, Logano was forced to swallow a disappointing 26th-place finish. Yet for crew chief Greg Zipadelli, there is no way the team can hang their heads after a tire leak ruined an otherwise strong performance.
"What can you do? We did all we could," Zipadelli said. "We sat on the pole, we led a bunch of laps, we had a very respectful top-five car. I think (it was) one of our better performances in the last two and a half years, so I'm not going to hang my head and be miserable over something on the race track. I can't control that.
“If it was something that we did and made a bad call it would be different than that. Right now, we learn and the last thing I want to do is walk out of here with a bad attitude and kill the momentum that we’ve had in the last six to eight weeks.”
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