Reaching new heights won't slow Logano

Logano later simplified it even more.

“My goal is still to win,” he said. “I might be greedy, but I want to win.”

Still, the Kansas victory does bring a bit of relief for the Connecticut native.

“It’s nice to know you’re in because I think everyone was very nervous about this round,” Logano said. “Knowing that it’s not a round that is going to win you the championship, but it’s a round that could keep you from winning it, when you think of Kansas and Talladega being in this round.”

Logano’s five wins this year have come at a variety of tracks — from the short tracks at Bristol and Richmond to the “Magic Mile” of Loudon to the intermediate ovals of Texas and Kansas.

Clearly, the Team Penske driver is thriving like never before. In addition to more than doubling his win total entering this season (he came in with three career victories and has five in 2014), he has the most top-fives in one season (14) and has led more laps this year (916) than he had from 2009-2013. (660).

On top of that, shortly after his win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Challenger Round of the Chase, he inked a multiyear extension with Team Penske, the team he’s been with since 2013.

One of the year’s biggest thrills is also a career first for him: Holding the points lead, which he has now.

“One of the coolest things about winning last week is that we are the points leader now,” Logano said. “That’s never happened for me before. Seeing your truck parked in the first spot, having that first garage stall, obviously it doesn’t mean much at this point, but it is something special.”

At Kansas, Logano was able to avoid the tire woes that claimed several Chase contenders such as teammate Brad Keselowski, as well as six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Those three drivers occupy the lowest three spots in the standings among the Chase field coming into Charlotte.

With his teammate currently on the wrong side of the Chase bubble, Logano says there are no plans to do anything differently this weekend.

“We’re going to do what we normally do,” Logano said. “We normally go out and try and help each other. As a two-car team, we have to work very tight together to make sure both our cars are fast. I feel like that’s something we applied to Team Penske a long time ago.

“We’ll pretty much do the same things we are already doing. Working together throughout practice, throughout qualifying, sharing our notes, talking about our race cars and then race each other as hard as we know how to on the race track.”

Logano is enjoying arguably the best stretch of his career, with three wins in the past seven races, four top-five finishes to start the Chase and no finish worse than 14th in his past 11 Sprint Cup races. The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) could very well keep the momentum going. He has three top-fives, six top-10s and a series-best average finish of 10.5 in 11 starts.

Still, despite having his spot in the next round locked up, Logano knows things could change, and next time it could be him instead of Keselowski or the other favorites who is in a tough position come the Eliminator Round.

“We are fortunate enough that it is not going be us this time,” Logano said. “But like Roger (Penske) likes to say, ‘You can’t trip up over your own press clippings.’ “

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