It’s no secret that Joey Logano has ample time to prepare for the championship race in Phoenix. But how much can a driver do more than his competitors during this time? Christopher Bell, who has made it to the championship race the last two seasons recently shed light on the situation. He had won at Homestead last year and that extra week to prepare was a huge deal for him.
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It turns out that the team utilizes this time more than the driver to build a fast car for Phoenix. The preparation is mental for the driver as they have a week or two during which they can completely clear their heads and run two races without pressure. They could try out different techniques or strategies in these events that could potentially be useful in the championship race. So, Logano seems to be in a good spot at the moment.
“Yeah, I mean it’s definitely an advantage to just have a clear headspace and time to prepare,” Bell said in a press conference. “You know, the teams have their routine to prepare the car for every week, but the Phoenix car is a special car and if you’re in the final four, it deserves to have more time and effort put into it. So, winning that first race is huge and yeah, it’s an advantage.”
Records too favor the driver of the No. 22 car. Logano has won the Cup Series championship twice in the past. On both occasions, he won the opening Round of 8 race. That said, there have been years in which he has won that race and not gone on to win the championship.
Logano hopes to get the better of “distractions”
The Team Penske driver has been in this situation before and knows what he needs to do to become a three-time Cup Series champion. He is well aware of the advantage he will carry into the championship round. Drivers in the final four often don’t get enough time to themselves in the final week due to all the sponsor and media responsibilities.
Fortunately, Logano has a couple of weeks before all that chaos starts. “There’s really not a lot of time to really focus in so the amount of distractions going into the biggest race of your career really can stack up drivers,” he said. “To be able to start working on that stuff now to where you limit your distractions on race week is really going to help out.”
No one expected the No. 22 team to be one of the finalists when the playoffs started. Now, Logano looks as strong a favorite as anyone. The turnaround has been incredible and the veteran race car driver will hope to complete this year’s story with a new piece of silverware in his cabinet.
