When stacked against his stats from last season, Joey Logano had already secured a top-five and a top-10 finish by now. This year, however, the Team Penske driver has only cracked the top 10 once — at Martinsville. Still, Logano remains persistent in his belief, expressing complete confidence in himself and his team’s ability to turn things around.
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While his average starting position of 9.75 paints a promising picture, his average finish tells a different story, landing at a disappointing 16.75 after the first eight races. Despite having plenty of speed under the hood and racking up 232 points, thanks in part to stage points, Logano hasn’t managed to seal the deal when it counts.
He’s led 260 laps — more than many drivers ahead of him in the standings — yet when the dust settles, his results haven’t matched his potential. Ahead of the race at Bristol Motor Speedway, when asked to evaluate his season so far, Logano kept things in perspective. He acknowledged that he’s pleased with the stage points they’ve been able to stack up — something that was hard to come by last year.
Back then, the team struggled throughout the race but still managed to scrape together decent finishes. This year, the script has flipped. According to Logano, his #22 Ford Mustang has shown solid pace and has been competitive out of the gate.
He pointed out that their average running position has been respectable, especially considering the laps they’ve led. Although the team has consistently racked up stage points, various on-track incidents have derailed their overall race results.
Still, Logano remains optimistic. He emphasized that the season is a marathon, not a sprint. With the speed they’ve shown, he believes it’s only a matter of time before they break through and bag a win.
Still, Logano didn’t shy away from pointing out that there are areas where the team needs to tighten the screws. He stated, “Do we have some areas we need to clean up? Yes. I’m not gonna pin all this on luck or misfortune of some sort. I don’t believe in that stuff, so there are areas as a team we can clean up and we’ll continue to work on that.”
Currently sitting ninth in the driver standings, Logano has only one DNF to his name this season. With eyes set on gaining ground, he’s heading into Bristol hoping to turn the tide with a stronger showing.
However, things have gotten off on the wrong foot already at Bristol. During Cup Series qualifying at the track, Logano got loose and hit the back bumper of his car on the wall, putting a damper on his plans for a clean start to the weekend. It remains to be seen how he goes during the race on Sunday.
