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TALLADEGA, Ala. — Joey Logano smiled a little and didn’t waste any time with his answer.
“No.”
No, the defending race winner will not race any differently at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday afternoon despite needing an overwhelmingly positive result to advance to the next round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship.
Eight drivers will move on to challenge for the title. Logano is currently ranked eighth — owning a tiebreaker over ninth-place Austin Dillon.
But the eight-year veteran insisted Friday before opening practice at Talladega that his approach and demeanor this weekend would remain the same as it was last year, when he carried a two-race winning streak onto Dega’s high banks and ultimately hoisted that trophy, too.
“Honestly, (it’s) not much different, which is a good thing,” said Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. “I feel like our team is in a good spot. We had a great run last weekend in Kansas. We did make up some points. We’re in a great spot with having a really bad Charlotte, so our team has a lot of confidence in themselves.
“We know we can do this. We’re coming into a race track that we know we’re good at. We know we can win here. Is the situation different? Obviously, it is. Last year, we were locked in. There was nothing to worry about. This year, we’re not, but we still have the same goal, so why should we approach the race any different?”
Logano opened this second round of the Chase with a 36th-place finish at Charlotte and rebounded with a third-place effort at Kansas Speedway last weekend.
Interestingly, when asked if he felt any pressure racing for his championship life at perhaps the most unpredictable venue in the Chase, the 26-year-old reminded that his approach is full throttle. Never defensive.
“I don’t really think about how people are trying to knock me out, I think about how I’m gonna knock other people out,” Logano said. “That’s my attitude. If I’m on defense, we’re not gonna win. We better stay on offense. That’s what this 22 team does. We’re gonna go out there and race hard because that’s what we know how to do when we come to speedways.
“Some guys can do it good the other way but, for us, we’re gonna go out there and race hard and try to stay up front, try to keep making our car better for the end of the race and to be there at the end.”
There is reason to believe Logano could solidify a Chase position. He has had solid, if inconsistent, results here outside his victory. And Logano’s Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski won at Talladega this spring and at Daytona this summer.
RELATED: Keselowski unfazed by Talladega pressure
When asked what matters more, skill and preparation or just plain luck — as many have suggested — Logano didn’t hesitate.
“I think it’s all skill and preparation — 100 percent in my opinion,” Logano said. “You create your own luck. That’s what I think. There might be a chance you run over something or something happens, but some things are just meant to be and some things aren’t. But if you can work and do everything you can do and prepare yourself to go out there and be the best, then that’s all you can do. I feel like that makes it, in my opinion, a lot about preparation.”
As for Logano, he seemed completely optimistic, perhaps even confident about his chances Sunday afternoon.
“Speedway racing isn’t as much of a crapshoot as a lot of people like to believe it is,” Logano said. “It sounds like it’s just an excuse to me. I think there is a lot of strategy and a lot of knowledge that has to go into playing this game.
“We’ve had a good, solid speedway program at Team Penske the last couple years and when you come to Talladega you get excited about it. It’s not quite like that for everybody, but for us, we get excited about speedway racing and the opportunity that presents itself this weekend, so we’re ready to get on the race track and see what we’ve got.”