Breaking news

NASCAR Cup

Joey Logano "ready to win again" as NASCAR playoffs begin

Joey Logano has had a remarkably consistent season but is missing one thing since NASCAR returned to action following a two-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic – wins.

Jim Utter

Edited: Sep 3, 2020, 4:46 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Shell Pennzoil

Joey Logano, Team Penske, AAA Insurance Ford Mustang

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Shell Pennzoil

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford, Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, crash

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Shell Pennzoil, celebrates after winning the FanShield 500.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Shell Pennzoil

Both of Logano’s wins in the Cup Series this year came in the season’s first four races. His best performance since NASCAR returned to action in May is a third at Texas Motor Speedway.

Clearly, Logano would have liked to have won again before this weekend’s start of the playoffs at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, but it doesn’t overly concern him.

He does have history on his side.

“It feels like a long time ago (since winning), way too long,” Logano, 30, said during Wednesday virtual NASCAR playoffs media tour. “We’re ready to win again, but I do feel like we’re getting close back to that same point as we were.

“To me, there’s no doubt when we went back racing we weren’t where we wanted to be. I even said it a few times, almost like a lost puppy not knowing what road to go down to get back to where we need to be, and it’s hard to find that direction without practice.

“It took longer than we wanted it to, longer than we expected it to, but I feel like we’re getting really close back to where we were at the beginning of the year. We can get ourselves in position to win again and I feel like we’re right at it.”

Getting back to Victory Lane

Logano and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford team have had opportunities along the way, including leading 234 of 500 laps at Martinsville, Va., before eventually finishing fourth.

He also put together a streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes before getting caught up in a wreck last weekend at Daytona and finishing 27th.

The good news is this season reminds Logano of his 2018 Cup season – one that unexpectedly turned into his first series championship.

That year, Logano ended the regular season with one win – a victory in the 10th race of the season at Talladega, Ala. He then won twice in the 10-race playoffs, including just one finish outside the top-10, on his way to capturing the title.

“We need to continue to slowly build and become stronger as a team. You’re not going to find one thing that’s going to be a light switch that’s going to put us all the way to where (Kevin Harvick) and (Denny Hamlin) are, but we’re not far off,” he said.

“We’re two or three little things away from that and this year is just reminding me of 2018, which is a great season for me, where we had some growing pains and some things we had to learn throughout the regular season.

“We slowly built the speed back up for the playoffs and the next thing you know we won two of the most important races and we win the championship.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article 2021 NASCAR Cup schedule faces "a lot of different variables"

Next article Bowyer hopes to be "part of this sport in any way" in 2021

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

45 min

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Formula 1

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 4 h

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 5 h

Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Joey Logano "ready to win again" as NASCAR playoffs begin

Joey Logano has had a remarkably consistent season but is missing one thing since NASCAR returned to action following a two-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic – wins.

Getting back to Victory Lane

Read Also:

We want your opinion!

Share Or Save This Story

Top Comments

Latest news

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.