It had been a head-scratching NASCAR Cup Series practice session for Joey Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske group as Logano was the slowest of the 38 cars in the field for this weekend’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Logano reported that his car started off really tight, which led to his opening fast laps on his tires being slow. As the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion attempted to click off some laps to see if his car would come around on the long run. But disaster struck on Logano’s 21st lap of the session.
As Logano was heading through Turns 3 and 4, the right front tire on his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang Dark Horse popped, which sent him hard into the outside wall.
Logano would take his race car to pit road following the incident, and he hopes to be able to turn a qualifying lap on Friday afternoon. Paul Wolfe and the No. 22 Team Penske team will attempt to dissect the damage to their race car and assess whether it can be repaired for Saturday’s Cook Out 400.
If not, Logano will have to go to a backup car for Saturday night’s race, but regardless, Logano’s race weekend is off to a really rough start.
Logano, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, comes into this weekend’s race 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship standings. Logano has one victory this year, which came at Texas Motor Speedway in May. If Logano is to snag his second win of the season on Saturday night, he’ll have to complete a massive uphill climb.
