WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – For a driver making his sports car racing debut, Joey Logano was having an excellent time. Logano, driving the No. 31 Whelen-sponsored Chevrolet Corvette for Marsh Racing, was fastest in the Grand Touring (GT) class early on during qualifying for Saturday evening’s (Aug. 13) Canadian Tire 200. However, while attempting to extract just a little more out of his Corvette, Logano got it all wrong in turn 9.
Logano appeared to enter turn 9 way too fast, much like Tony Stewart did earlier in the day in his Sprint Cup car. However, unlike Stewart, Logano went straight off, then spun the car while trying to recover. The result was that the Whelen Chevrolet went into the tire barriers left-rear first. The car then swung around and hit the tires with the left-front corner. This caused the car to spin around 270 degrees in the air before coming to rest. Logano was OK but the Corvette was thoroughly thrashed.
Logano’s fastest lap of 74.541 seconds (118.324 mph) was good enough for the outside pole in the GT class. However, the car may not be repairable at the track.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.