Logano 2-For-2, Finishes 43rd In Daytona 500 Debut

Joey Logano picked up his 1st career last-place finish in Sunday's 51st Annual Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway after his #20 Home Depot Toyota was involved in a single-car accident on lap 79 of the rain-shortened 152-lap race.

Logano had a difficult SpeedWeeks coming into the 500. He crashed out of the Budweiser Shootout the previous week and struggled with his car’s handling in practice. Despite this, Logano ran very well in Gatorade Duel Race 1 on Thursday, finishing 4th. The run gave him the 9th starting spot for the Daytona 500, but he struggled near the back of the pack as the race progressed. Hovering around 27th on lap 79, Logano entered the tri-oval behind fellow rookie Scott Speed. When Speed got loose, Logano turned left and crossed the nose of Greg Biffle on his inside. The contact sent Logano’s Toyota head-on into the inside wall just before the entrance of pit road. His car then slid back into the infield grass and came to a stop, bringing out the fourth caution of the race. Logano was uninjured.

With the finish, Logano became the first driver ever to finish last in both the Budweiser Shootout and the Daytona 500 in the same year. It was the first time the #20 had finished last in the Daytona 500 since 2007 and the first time the #20 had finished last at all since last year’s UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas. Both those finishes came with the car’s previous driver, Tony Stewart.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #20-Joey Logano / 79 laps / crash
42) #28-Travis Kvapil / 90 laps / running
41) #18-Kyle Busch / 123 laps / crash
40) #41-Jeremy Mayfield / 126 laps / running
39) #83-Brian Vickers / 134 laps / crash

2009 RANKINGS
1st) Joey Logano (1)