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California (Fontana): Joey Logano NASCAR Nationwide Race Quotes - P1
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st
What happened when you made contact with Greg Biffle early in the race?
"I didn’t think we had a shot at (the win) after (Greg) Biffle tried to put us in the wall. Apparently, that’s the only way he thought he could beat us, but you can’t put this 20 thing down. I can tell you what, we never quit -- kept digging all day. I definitely didn’t think we had a shot at it. That was just amazing. These guys are amazing. I have to thank the fans, thank GameStop, Sport Clips, Z-Line, Coca-Cola and all the guys back at the shop that put this thing together. It’s an awesome race car and it’s fun to race. That was the most fun race I’ve ever had in my life and I didn’t think I had a shot at this. I tried to salvage a top-10 out of it to bring home a ‘W.’"
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Was this victory a team effort?
"I tell you what, that was the coolest race of my life. The coolest by no doubt in my mind -- that was awesome. I never, I went to the point in that race that I was going to try to salvage a top-10 out of it and all of a sudden I’m sitting third and all of a sudden I took the lead and I thought, ‘I got a shot at this thing!’ I can’t believe it. That was cool after we get put in the fence and almost ruined our day we were able to fight back at a track like this -- that was really cool and aero means a lot. It really hurt my car a lot. I think this is the best way to get them back."
Were you racing today like this was a short track and not a two-mile oval?
"There’s a lot of wreck on the race cars. That’s the cool thing about this race track, the top-five cars were running single file on that straight away and they go in the corner and they fan out four wide. It’s all trying to come off the corners where all the trouble is and to see all that happening. I didn’t think we had a shot at it and we made that last pit stop there at the end, get some fresh tires on it and I was wondering how good they were going to hold off. Apparently, it was just enough."
How do you feel about picking up the win today?
"It was crazy to say the least. The start of the race, I felt like we were okay. We needed to do a little bit of work to the car, but I felt like we had a really good car. On the restart, the 16 (Greg Biffle) got underneath us and decided to fence me down the straight away for no apparent reason. I was pretty livid about that. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) was trying to calm me down. Eventually, we were able to work on the car. I tried to get it back to what we had. It was tough to get there. It seemed like it never was the same for the rest of the race. We were in a late race pit stop, got some new tires on that thing and we were able to drive back to the front. That was crazy. That was not the race I thought I was going to have a shot at winning today. I was sitting back there in 15th and I was hoping I could salvage a top-10 out of this thing. All of a sudden, I was passing for the lead. That was really cool. I had a blast doing it."
How does your anger affect you on the race track?
"Dave (Rogers, crew chief) tries to tick me off every race, and he didn’t have to do that this time (laughter). I don’t know why. I guess I dig a little harder. I think it happens to a lot of people. You get mad and you find a little bit more. The best revenge is putting that thing in victory lane."
DAVE ROGERS, crew chief, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What were your thoughts on today’s race?
"The same thing I said all week, Joey Logano has so much heart and it proves that you never give up, no matter what you’re doing. You just keep digging and get the best out of it. I’m really proud of this GameStop Toyota race team. All the guys on pit road -- making the adjustments, working on the body. Our spotter, Mark Robinson, really kept Joey (Logano) and I calm down at points and then Joey just driving the wheels off at the end."
J.D. GIBBS, President, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What are your thoughts on today’s race?
"It kind of went back and forth. Obviously, real discouraging for Denny (Hamlin) and Kyle (Busch) to be running that well and have the issue at the end. That was a heartbreaker. I’m figuring like Joey (Logano) said, if we get a 10th out of it with the 20, then that would be pretty good. We watched and you were 10th, then seventh, you’re fifth, you’re fourth and then I was thinking we might have a shot at this thing. To watch him come through and do that was really special. We were trying to figure out -- I have to watch it again just to figure out how he did it because that was impressive."
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Germain Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 6th
How do you feel about your career-best finish?
"We were definitely happy, that was our best finish of the year, so far. Our team just keeps getting better. My guys impressed me this weekend. I got a younger crew chief (Ryan Fugle), this is only his second race as my crew chief. We unloaded not even close and they battled the first two hours of practice getting it and getting it and then that last half hour we thought we had a good car. We came out today and everything we did to tighten it up yesterday and we couldn’t make a corner because we were so tight. We just couldn’t get free enough."
Was the outside line important in today’s race?
"One thing I know today was how important it was to be in the outside line of a restart. If I was on the bottom I knew that I was probably going to lose two or three spots and we battled that whole run to get them back. But when we could restart on the outside, we could get two or three spots going down the backstretch and get two more through the run. That was real important for us. You could see the cars that grew some on the bottom and still could dig off and keep the momentum but that was one thing we struggled with. I can’t say enough about Germain Racing. We’re out there without a sponsor on the car and digging and getting the best finishes we’ve had so I can’t be happier."
PaddockTalk Perspective
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