Logano Prepares to Attack in Second Playoff Chance at Las Vegas

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Joey Logano’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has been a rollercoaster ride with last Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte being the latest episode of the whirlwind saga for the No. 22 Team Penske group.

When the checkered flag was waved, it appeared Logano had just seen his title aspirations go by the wayside after missing the Round of 8 by four points with Tyler Reddick taking the eighth and final transfer spot.

An angry Logano rehashed the bitter memories of being taken out by Austin Dillon at Richmond, knowing how the last-lap incident played a role in his postseason exit. Insisting had the butterfly effect never happened, he would’ve safely made the next round.

However, all the anger evaporated once NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman from his 18th place finish for his car failing to meet the minimum weight requirements. With the severity of Bowman’s penalty, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was eliminated from the championship, allowing Logano a second chance in his bid for a third Cup title.

“You get there literally the moment we get out of the race car. It takes a little bit to get your thoughts collected,” Logano said of his post-race frustrations during a media appearance on Tuesday.

“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.”

The rumors and aforementioned phone call regarding the No. 48 team’s demise surprised the driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford, but Bowman’s misfortune became his personal gain. More so when Hendrick Motorsports, Bowman’s team, opted against appealing the disqualification and secured Logano’s Round of 8 berth.

“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,” said Logano. “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. 

“Obviously, it came out yesterday that they’re not appealing, so we move on and into the Round of 8 and off we go.”

Even if Hendrick decided to appeal and prolong the wait of officially advancing into the next round, their approach wouldn’t change as the No. 22 Team Penske crew would be fighting for the Owner’s Championship which they’ve advanced over Reddick’s No. 45 23XI Racing squad.

This was a result of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 team, driven by Kyle Larson, winning the regular season title on the car owners side and collecting the now-impactful 15 playoff points, altering the less discussed yet vital portion of the NASCAR playoffs.

Logano explained such consideration from Hendrick is out of his control and all he and the No. 22 team could do is prepare for Las Vegas and beyond.

“I don’t work at Hendrick. I don’t know the situation that happened and how it happened. I can’t sway their opinion on whether they’re gonna appeal it or not, so what am I gonna do,” Logano commented. 

“All I can do is do us at that point – do what we typically do, which is our typical Monday and go through it and prepare for the next weekend.”

Logano added that whether or not he was still in contention for the driver’s title, it was going to be business as usual over the next four weeks because of the owner’s championship battle.

“Does the goal change because we’re in the Round of 8 versus not? No, because we were still in the owner’s championship anyway,” Logano continued.

“We still had that that we needed to continue to fight for, so the goal doesn’t change, the strategy wouldn’t have changed. Nothing changes in our minds because that owner’s piece of this whole thing is ultra important. That’s where the money is at. We don’t talk about it much, but it’s important, so we wouldn’t have changed our mindset one bit.”

Following Monday’s news, he had empathy for Bowman as he’s out of the title picture after doing everything he could control of doing behind the wheel at the Charlotte ROVAL.

Something Logano knows quite well as an encumbered win at Richmond in Spring 2017 voided his Playoff berth and played a role of missing the Playoffs, the only time he’s missed the postseason since the elimination format was introduced in 2014.

“It’s hard. I’ve been there. If you’ve done this stuff long enough you as a driver find yourself in these scenarios and it’s not easy from any level,” said Logano. “One, you’ve got to answer questions from you guys. The impact that it makes for your race team. There’s nothing good that comes out of it and it’s frustrating on top of it.

“I don’t know how it happened – if it’s a mistake or something, I don’t know. Is it was something that was intentional? Is it something they just pushed too far? I don’t know. That probably affects the way you think after something like this happens.”

Now with a fresh lease in his playoff run, Logano has an opportunity of making the Championship 4 for the sixth time of his career. All of them occurring on even-numbered years.

However, with the press labeling Logano’s playoff run as a “second chance,” speculation looms whether two-time Cup champion will change his approach to make most of the opportunity in the Round of 8.

Don’t expect any changes from Logano, commenting he will go out there and attack like any other race. Emphasizing the No. 22 Penske team steadily improving throughout the playoffs and feels confident of having the speed needed to have a chance for a third title.

“We had a lot of speed (at Kansas) and almost won the first stage there. We have to clean up a couple issues on the execution side,” said Logano. “Talladega is Talladega. We got caught up in the big crash there, but the speed we also had this weekend at the Roval looked pretty solid to me, to where we are a Championship 4 caliber race team.”

Logano’s boast of confidence went further by saying that on paper, it may appear they’re the underdogs on a stacked and fierce Round of 8, but they’re ready to maximize their efforts beginning Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

A track the 34-year-old has won three times, including the fall race two years ago which locked him into his fifth Championship 4 where he ultimately won the Bill France Cup at Phoenix.

“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,” Logano commented. “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.”

Back to fighting for both the Driver’s and Owner’s Championship, Logano reiterated that with or without Bowman’s disqualification, he and Team Penske’s energy remains the same. In turn, it didn’t hurt having additional confidence of maximizing their race weekend.

“You’re right back in it and the goal was the same, whether we were in the driver’s championship still or not. The owner’s side of it still mattered to us, so the mindset doesn’t change,” Logano explained. “The energy doesn’t change. We’re still going out there to maximize the day and win it if we can. That’s the goal, so I can’t say it changed much. 

“Did it bring some excitement that this piece of it is still there? Yeah, absolutely. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel that way, but it doesn’t change much from the way it affects us as a race team.”

Logano’s attack begins in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas, the first opportunity for he or his seven playoff rivals to punch their ticket into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway Sunday, November 10. Race coverage of the 267-lap event begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC as Kyle Larson has a chance of pulling a Vegas three-peat.