Joey Logano, who entered Darlington above the cutoff line, could only salvage a P20 finish and slipped to 13th in the standings, now sitting on the wrong side of the cutline. That’s why the next two races will be make-or-break for him.
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Gateway, where he boasts an average finish of 3.0, offers his best shot, while Bristol looms larger with a subpar 27.0 average in five starts. Addressing the stretch, Logano noted that NASCAR drivers are never truly out of the fight.
Looking back at Darlington, he admitted it was frustrating, but emphasized the need to move on quickly. As he put it, the playoffs keep rolling with or without any driver, so a driver better be on board before the ship leaves the dock.
He said, “You just have to write that one off as quick as possible, move on, figure out what you have to do at Gateway and keep going because at some point in the playoffs your back will be up against the wall and it will be do-or-die at some point.
“100 percent in the playoffs in these 10 weeks you will have that at least one time. If you make it to the Championship 4, your back is up against the wall. You must win.”
Logano acknowledged that such pressure points can come in any round, so drivers like himself must avoid falling into that hole. That’s what makes Gateway this weekend such a pivotal stop.
The silver lining for Logano is that he tends to thrive when the heat is on. He’s risen to the occasion plenty of times before, though he’s also been burned. Having lived on both sides, he knows exactly how to weather the storm.
Logano’s thoughts on Bristol being an elimination race
In 30 starts at Bristol, Logano has scored two victories and six top-five finishes. Yet with the parity NASCAR has baked into the Next Gen era, short tracks like it have become a tougher nut to crack.
Logano admitted that the concrete surface with the Next Gen car hasn’t been his strong suit. While Bristol had been a reliable playground for him in previous generations of cars, he conceded he hasn’t quite unlocked the formula with the current package.
He further explained, “Goodyear is bringing a different tire and trying to promote more tire wear. All of those type of things could change a lot of things as well, so as we go through our setup and things you want to change, there’s a lot of different variables that are changing on top of that.
“I don’t want to call it an unknown, but there’s a lot of things that we’re gonna have to figure out when we get there, and you guys know how the rules are today, you don’t really have the opportunity to change much, so we’re trying to anticipate some of the things coming our way.”
With two races left to keep his postseason alive, the No. 22 Team Penske Ford driver must rise to the occasion, or his streak of reaching the Championship 4 in even-numbered years may remain his calling card.
