Joey Logano made history when he captured the checkered flag at the Phoenix Raceway last month. He gave Team Penske its third consecutive Cup Series championship and won his third title as well. This wouldn’t have been possible without aid from Austin Cindric’s jackman Pat Gray. The 33-year-old crew member stepped in when Logano’s jackman had to quit midrace citing health reasons.
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Gray was previously part of Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske crew in 2020. The team had reached the Championship 4 that season but failed to win the title. This left a burning mark on Gray’s ego.
He told Sports Illustrated recently, “Ever since that weekend, I’ve wanted an opportunity bad again at trying to win a championship. It’s just been like this empty void.”
Being called up as a replacement for Logano’s jackman, Graham Stoddard, in the championship race answered his prayers. He quickly grabbed his gear, ran over to the No. 22 team’s pit stall, and began preparing himself. A pit crew’s efficiency depends directly on its members’ chemistry. Fortunately, Gray had spent some time practicing with Logano’s men earlier.
Once they completed aligning Gray to their already laid out plans and method of working, all that was left to do was wait for Logano to come to the pit.
Gray went into a zone of deep concentration and began working with the highest standards of precision. The pit stops that came with him in control led to Logano beating the defending champion Ryan Blaney by 0.330 seconds.
Gray’s hesitation to join the championship celebrations
Logano had suffered a setback after Stage 1 due to a slow pit stop of 11.9 seconds. This error had been committed before Gray entered the fold. Not only did he make up for the lost time when he came in, but also did enough of a good job to make sure that his driver wouldn’t miss the mark this time. But the moments in the aftermath of Logano winning the title had been awkward for him.
He belonged to the No. 2 crew. He had helped the No. 22 win the title. Was he supposed to join the celebrations? He initially thought against it and tried fading away into the background. But his temporary team wouldn’t have any of that. He said, “I think it was maybe Jake Seminara, the Rear Changer, and those guys, and they were like, ‘Get over here! Like, are you kidding me?’
“Kind of like gave me the okay feeling, like okay, they feel the same way that I do, right? Like, dude, we crushed it in this crazy situation. Get your butt over here so we can celebrate.”
Gray has been with Team Penske for eight years. The embrace from Logano’s team finally set things right and he celebrated a Cup Series championship after the heartbreak that he suffered with Keselowski in 2020.
