Joey Logano went through a roller coaster of emotions during last weekend's Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Roval. He watched helplessly as Tyler Reddick charged through the field on fresh tires, slashing away at the points deficit while Logano could not move forward. At the checkered flag, Reddick was ahead by just four points.
However, about 2.5 hours later, everything changed. When Alex Bowman's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed to meet minimum weight requirements in post-race tech, his disqualification and subsequent loss of points pushed him out of the playoffs. Logano's title hopes were instantly revived, taking Bowman's place in the Round of 8.
"I was obviously surprised," said Logano in a Tuesday media availability. "I heard rumors before that of a delay in tech and some of those things going on. Usually, nothing happens. It was kind of a surprise to hear that. Typically, by the time you roll the car off the scales, they give them the opportunity to put weight in the cars and you’re usually fine, but in this case that wasn’t the case and I was like, ‘Well, would we be in?’ That’s the first question you have to ask and obviously the answer was yes, and then you’re still kind of cautiously optimistic because you’re thinking, ‘Well, there probably will be an appeal if there is and we may not know until later,’ so you kind of keep going on with your life and preparing for the next race."
“I was starting to move forward," further explained the Team Penske driver. "You get there literally the moment we get out of the race car. It takes a little bit to get your thoughts collected and, honestly, by the time I was driving home, my wife and I were talking about something far more important than what we were doing at the racetrack. My mind was already starting to shift on what were the next moves and kind of getting over the race. Then I started hearing the rumors from there and the phone started to ring shortly after.”
Although this year been a bit of an 'off' year for Logano compared to previous seasons, he still appears to be in a very strong position. Penske has won back-to-back championships in the Next Gen era, and he has won races at every single track in the penultimate round of the playoffs.
“Trends are trends for a reason," noted Logano, agreeing that Penske has a knack for rising to the occasion when the championship trophy is in sight.
His dramatic win at Martinsville in 2018 launched him into the Championship 4 and allowed him to earn his first title over Martin Truex Jr. In 2022, his Round of 8 victory at Las Vegas put him into the Championship 4 again, this time beating Ross Chastain for the crown. Homestead, which now sits as the middle race in this round, was actually the title-decider when Logano won his first championship. And yes, he won that race too.
“We’ve done it before, we can do it again," he declared when asked about his chances heading into this round.
Going into Vegas and looking at the final eight drivers in contention, Logano's season has been the weakest, despite two race wins. He is last in top-fives, last in top-tens, and holds the lowest average finish among the Round of 8 field. But he's certainly stepped it up since the playoffs began, especially in qualifying. He's advanced into the pole round in five of the last six races, which is critical if he wants to score stage points. Logano believes there is a path forward on points for him, even sitting last in the reset standings. He is 40 points behind Kyle Larson, who sits at the top of the points pile, but only 11 points below the cut-line.
"I feel like we’ve been steadily getting better and improving throughout the season to where we are now. I feel confident in the speed we have in our car," said Logano, who later added: "The stats may not look like it. It may look like we’re underdogs from the outset looking in, but internally we feel very confident in our race team that we can make a run at this thing and get ourselves into the Championship 4. We’ve seen it in the past where you get in there and anything can happen at Phoenix. The goal right now is to look at the next three races and how do we maximize that. We can point our way in. We’re only 11 out, so it’s not a lot of points by no means. It can happen very quickly, so one race at a time. Right now, the focus is Vegas and we’ll try to maximize the day there.
"We’ve lived this story many times before. Yeah, would it be easier if you had more playoff points? Yeah, but you know what? You win this weekend and you’re sitting as the favorite going into Phoenix, so it changes like that and that’s with the playoff system that we have. Every point matters throughout the whole season. I’m not discounting that, but you have to be your absolute best at this point in the season or else those points don’t even matter, so I feel confident in our team that we’ve got that. We’re still alive. We’re still going and that’s the name of the game in these playoffs. You just have to stay alive long enough. I said it last year that we did not accomplish that. This year, we’re gonna keep the pressure on all the way through.”
But the playoffs are nothing if not unpredictable, and the current car has only added to that. Half of the playoff races have been won by drivers that didn't even make the playoffs with 18 different drivers visiting Victory Lane this year. Logano seemed unfazed by the dramatic shift from being eliminated to suddenly being thrown back into contention on Sunday night.
"It’s NASCAR, man," smiled Logano. "I don’t know what to tell you. Expect the unexpected. You’ve got to go and just roll with the punches and go with the flow and just continue on. I feel like these days more and more there are just seasons like this. There’s just more crazy things that can happen than ever before, and a lot of that is due to the Next Gen car."
