By David Morgan, Associate Editor
CONCORD, N.C. – A year ago, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Joey Logano thought his Playoff hopes were dead when the checkered flag flew only to have them come back to life following the post-race disqualification of Alex Bowman for an underweight car.
In that race, Logano came into the elimination race 13 points below the cut-off line in full offensive mode, a plan that did not pan out the way the No. 22 team expected and resulted in an elimination – albeit short-lived.
Logano recounted the rollercoaster of emotions that followed the end of that race a year ago, from the disappointment of elimination to the elation of getting a second chance and then making the most of it by going out and winning his third NASCAR Cup Series championship four weeks later.
“I remember the emotions leaving the track. I was bummed. I was like, ‘Well, on one hand we did really good here last year,’ so I was proud of the effort that we gave,” said Logano.
“I was bummed that we were just a little short, but it is what it is. That’s how I am at the end of the race. It is what it is. I can’t change it now and you just have to keep looking out the windshield and we went home. We went home and had a fairly normal evening, and then I got a call and it was like, ‘Hey, honey, you ain’t gonna believe it. We’re back in.’
“Obviously, the next seven days after that changed everything because we went from out to in to winning Vegas and in the Championship 4 and winning our third title, so just a quick turn of events, but that’s NASCAR racing for you. It’s unpredictable. Things can change really, really fast. You just have to keep rolling with it.”
Fast forward to 2025, Logano is 13 points on the other side of the cut-off line and holding steady in the final transfer spot into the Round of 8, a precarious position to be still within striking distance of those on the outside looking in and in danger of getting bumped out should one of those four win the race.
He explained that as Sunday’s race plays out, he wants to be fed every piece of information possible on the points battle to be able to position himself and his team in the best spot possible to be able to come out of Charlotte with a spot in the Round of 8 locked up.
“I want to know it all. I want everything, all the information I can possibly get said to me,” said Logano.
“I think everybody knows you make better decisions when you have all the data and we’re asked to make decisions in the heat of the battle live. There’s no time to talk it through in a boardroom.
“We’ve got to make the decision at that moment, so the more prepared we can be the better, but also understanding what the situation is, what’s going on around me and what I have to do inside the race car.”
Logano also isn’t looking any further than Sunday at Charlotte, even with Las Vegas coming up next weekend and his No. 22 team being the defending race winner of the fall race that propelled them to the championship race last season.
“It’s one step at a time. We’ve got to get through this week first,” said Logano. “This week right now is the most important race of the season for us. We’ve got to get through this one.
“Hopefully, we can continue to be in the championship race after this and at that point we’ll look at Vegas, but right now 100 percent of our focus is at the Roval.”
Logano will start from 17th place on Sunday, next to last among the drivers still alive in the Playoff race.
In seven previous starts on the Charlotte ROVAL, Logano has two top-five finishes and six top-10 finishes, with his best finish of second coming back in 2020.
The Bank of America ROVAL 400 will kick off at 3:00 pm ET on USA Network.
Be the first to comment