Joey Logano was all smiles before a trying Food City Dirt Race at Bristol. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Heading into Sunday night’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Joey Logano looked like a solid, pre-race favorite.
After all, Logano dominated Saturday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, conquering Bristol with a gladiator’s sword in his possession. Moreover, the 32-year-old Middletown, Connecticut native won the 2021 Food City Dirt Race in better late than never style, the first rendition of this race on the clay surface.
Despite starting 12th, Logano had the makings to contend for the win in the 250-lap race in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang. However, Logano found that “The Volunteer State” elected to provide trouble rather than confidence and comfort.
On Lap 11, Logano tangled with Bubba Wallace in Turn 2, prompting the race’s first of 14 caution periods.
It was just another Manic Monday except it was on Sunday for Logano. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
While getting involved in an early race incident at Bristol is not unusual for a heavy hitting contender like Logano, he likely did not anticipate how the hits would keep on coming for him inside the first 100 laps.
Just 26 laps after his Turn 2 fracas, Matt Crafton got into the Turn 4 wall with Logano involved with collateral damage. Logano’s pristine No. 22 ride went from its immaculate condition to something seen with Lionel Racing’s “Checkers or Wreckers” line.
Although the race was far from over for Logano, given Bristol’s fast paced nature, even with the clay race surface, the evening ended far too soon on Lap 97.
The damage from the Lap 11 and Lap 37 incidents proved insurmountable for Logano to muster a genuine bid for his second Bristol Dirt Race win. In spite of Logano’s feelings about the Bristol Dirt Race, he was still disappointed to leave the East Tennessee track with a 37th place result.
“Someone wrecked in front of me and I can’t say I really saw it and they came down the racetrack and hit it with the right front and it broke the steering and then I hit the wall really hard after that,” Logano said. “That just kind of killed our car. It’s a bummer. We got caught up in pretty much everything from the beginning of the race.”
Early race incidents stunted Logano’s efforts but it did not deter his spirits when he was still on the track and rallying toward the top 15 before Stage 1’s conclusion.
“I was in the first couple of cautions right off the bat,” he said. “We had a really good Mustang that could run its way back through the field and we got our way back to 14th by the end of the first stage and I was like, ‘Alright, I think we’re pretty good.’ And then just got caught up in more of them.”
A rally by Logano was not in the cards at the Bristol Dirt track. (Photo: Trish McCormack | The Podium Finish)
Bristol, naturally a concrete, high banked 0.5-mile short track, seemed competitive in its temporary clay dirt surface, especially for Logano when he charged his way back into contention.
“Honestly, our car was so good that we drove from the back a few times and it wasn’t that bad,” Logano said. “There are a lot of lanes. If you’re faster, you can move around and do different things. You can pass and make big moves and do things, but there’s always carnage around you and at some point you get caught up in it.”
For now, Logano will have to work with getting himself back shipshape and Bristol fashion.
If there is any driver in the NASCAR Cup Series grid who is capable of putting a tough race behind him with a victory in the following week, the two-time and defending Cup Series champion is a pro and cannot be dismissed at Martinsville (Sunday, Apr. 16 at 3 p.m. ET on FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
