Friday Phoenix Notebook

Friday Phoenix Notebook

Notebook Items:

•           Logano focused on winning at Phoenix

•           Edwards faces another uphill battle

•           Riding with The Boss

Nov. 7, 2014

Despite Chase lead, Joey Logano focused on winning at Phoenix

By Reid Spencer

NASCAR Wire Service

PHOENIX, Ariz.— Of the drivers who have dominated the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this season, Joey Logano is in the most comfortable position as the final race in the Chase’s Eliminator Round approaches.

Logano, the Chase leader, can lock up one of four available spots in the Nov. 16 championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a finish of 11th or better in Sunday’s Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500.

Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski, who like Logano have shown consistent speed this season—with the victories to prove it—aren’t as fortunate as the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Where Logano can qualify for Homestead with a solid run, Harvick, Gordon and Keselowski can be assured of a spot in the title race only with a win on Sunday.

Logano, however, plans to aim higher than 11th at Phoenix.

“All we have to do is finish 11th, but our goal is to come out here and win the race,” Logano said before Friday’s opening Sprint Cup practice at the one-mile track. “If our goal was only 11th, we may not finish there, so we have to make sure we set our goals high, like we’ve been doing for the rest of the season.”

Nevertheless, Logano’s says it’s difficult not to be aware of the “magic number.”

“It’s in your mind,” Logano acknowledged. “You start thinking about what you have to do to get to the next round, but at the same time you have to not think about that in the race. You have to stay focused in on the task at hand like we did last week (recovering from a cut tire and a spin to finish 12th at Texas).

“We quite possibly could have been out of it last week after everything started happening there at the end of the race. I feel like we recovered great.  We didn’t finish where we wanted to going into the day, but after losing that many spots toward the end of the race and being able to come home 12th—all things considered—it was a decent day. 

“We’ll have to do the same thing here, go out there and try to win the race and roll with the punches no matter what happens--no pun intended.”

ANOTHER UPHILL BATTLE FOR EDWARDS

Carl Edwards kept his championship hopes alive with a remarkable rally last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Two laps down in 30th place late in the AAA Texas 500, Edwards took advantage of a wave-around, a free pass as the highest-scored lapped car and a spate of cautions in the final 80 laps to post a ninth-place finish.

After a disappointing opening practice on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, site of the final race in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Edwards faces another formidable challenge as his tries to advance to the title race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Practice did not go well for us,” Edwards admitted. “It was not good, so we’ve got some work to do. We didn’t do any race trim, so there’s still hope for our race trim, but qualifying trim was not good.

“It’s just like last week, we’re not gonna quit.  We’re just gonna go give 100 percent and hopefully we can find something by this evening. (Crew chief) Jimmy (Fennig) and the guys are working really hard on it.”

Edwards and Fennig have two practices on Saturday to work out their issues. Currently Edwards and former teammate Matt Kenseth are tied for fifth in the Chase standings, 13 points out of first place and one point behind Jeff Gordon in fourth.

“We can’t let (Friday) affect (Saturday), because we didn’t do any race trim practice,” Edwards said. “Tomorrow will be a different day. Qualifying is a different animal, and we’ll just go start with our race trim practice and work through our problems.”

RIDING WITH THE BOSS

Imagine the boss of NASCAR riding in a motorcycle sidecar next to the legendary singer/songwriter known simply as “The Boss.”

That image isn’t as far-fetched as you might think, after Thursday night’s eighth annual Stand Up for Heroes fundraiser at New York City’s Theater at Madison Square Garden.

During an auction that accompanied a night of music and comedy to raise money in support of post-9/11 injured service members through the Bob Woodruff Foundation, NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France and wife Amy France partnered with another bidder to win a package of experiences with Bruce Springsteen.

The Frances pledged $300,000 (a total matched by their bidding partner) to the Stand Up for Heroes Fund to acquire the Springsteen package, which includes a signed guitar and a one-hour guitar lesson from The Boss, a lasagna dinner prepared by Springsteen and a ride in the aforementioned sidecar with Springsteen driving.

All told, the star-studded event raised more than $6 million, beating the record $5 million set last year.