NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. – Joey Logano’s current spot in the NASCAR Cup Series standings could conceivably prompt a panic-button moment four races in. His position might also feed the prevailing thought that the worst of his misfortune is behind him.
“Depends on the moment you ask me,” Logano says with a sanguine laugh. “We’re sitting here Wednesday, I’ve gotten back under control, which is good.”
Logano heads to this Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) mired in 30th place in the points after a rocky kickoff to the 2024 campaign. The 33-year-old driver of Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford leads the Cup Series with two pole positions and three front-row starts, but has three finishes of 28th or worse.
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A ninth-place day at Las Vegas two weeks ago marks the lone race where Logano hasn’t been collected in a crash. Any chance to build on that was hampered last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where a bump from John Hunter Nemechek sent him careening into the outside retaining wall 109 laps short of the end.
Logano is exactly 100 points behind Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, the reigning Cup Series champion and current standings leader. For now, with 22 regular-season races to remedy his situation before the Cup Series Playoffs, Logano’s outlook is short on gloom and doom, but with the acknowledgment of how difficult this starting stretch has been.
“It’s definitely the toughest start of a season I’ve ever had,” Logano said at the end of Wednesday’s Goodyear tire testing at North Wilkesboro Speedway. “Some of it, out of our control; some of it, in our control, but we just haven’t scored the points. The superspeedways, Atlanta, our cars were really fast. Vegas, we were mediocre. Last week was a struggle. With that said, the way the races are these days, you can pick that car up, put it fifth, and it’ll probably run fifth. Just we didn’t qualify good enough and stay up there and get up there. And then we got caught up in that crash there with John Hunter. So, just one of those things.
“You hope that it all just comes up in one lump and it’s over for the rest of the season. I don’t know how the averages work out like that, but all we can do is just stay focused in on what we do — keep preparing, keep bringing fast race cars. This is the same team that’s won two championships, the team that knows how to do it. Paul (Wolfe, No. 22 crew chief) knows. We all know. We don’t really have to talk about it a whole bunch. We kind of know the situation, we know who we are, we know we can fight out of it. So, just keep on digging.”
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Logano said he had discussed last weekend’s incident with Nemechek, who was apologetic post-race at Phoenix, saying that he intended to reach out. “We talked,” Logano said. “We’re good.”
The sting of sitting P30 in points remains, but Logano said there’s solace to be found in a history of resilience for both him and his No. 22 team. Logano has bounced back from subpar efforts before, perhaps most notably in winning his first Cup Series championship in 2018, one year after a rare playoffs absence.
“I mean, it helps you in these moments mentally when you know you can do it, right?” Logano said. “If you’re earlier in your career and you haven’t gone through many things like this before, you wonder if you’re ever going to win again. But when you’ve done it for — what am I, 15, 16 years in now — I’ve been through the cycle a few times. I know that we will get out of it. I know it’s not easy, and don’t get me wrong, it’s not fun. It’s freakin’ miserable, but it is what it is, and you just kind of keep fighting and you come out the other end. You stick with the habits and keep going.”