HOMESTEAD, Fla. — For the sixth time in his career, Joey Logano will be vying for a NASCAR Cup Series title. Being the first playoff driver locked into the Championship 4 via winning the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano finds himself in a familiar spot — being the favorite.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t [be the favorite],” said Logano. “I always feel like we can win the race no matter what, and we figured out a way last week even when we weren’t the fastest car — we were the best team that figured out how to win that race. That’s where I feel like we have such an advantage over the other teams. We were very well-rounded and I think that’s what gives us a lot of opportunity to capitalize when no one expects it. Now you’re going to give us more time to focus on one track; that’s what we needed.”
The No. 22’s win last week already disrupted and changed the trajectory of this year’s playoffs and now the crew has a two-week headstart over whoever else locks into the final four. The team has been keen on wasting no time on what could be Logano’s third Cup Series title and cap a Team Penske three-peat of driver’s champions.
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“We went over Vegas for a little bit, just like we typically would after any race. We did an overview of Miami, you know, just the details that we’re looking for here and then we started talking about Phoenix and pretty much just stayed there the entire time. The fact that we earned an advantage by being able to focus on Phoenix before anyone else, we need to take advantage of that opportunity.”
It’s a chance for Logano to repeat history as he captured his first two championships by winning the first Round of 8 race and again having a leg up on the competition in the finale. Even for a multi-time champ like Logano, the chance to add more to the resume isn’t something he’s taking lightly, fully embracing the pressure surrounding the chance to stand on the sport’s mountaintop again.
“I laugh all the time because so many drivers in all three series, a lot of their answers are, ‘We just treat it as another race, it’s just another race,’ B.S it’s not another race, it’s not even close,” Logano added. “It’s the championship. It’s the biggest race you’ll ever be a part of.
Everybody’s different, and everybody handles things in different ways. Some people get excited in those do-or-die situations and they want the ball as the clock winds down and they want to take the shot, and there’s other people that are like ‘I don’t know, I don’t want to be the guy that misses the shot’ I don’t think that way — I want to be the guy that makes the shot.”