Following NASCAR as a fan, a reporter or even a member of another team can be a conundrum. While so much has been said in recent weeks about drivers like regular season champion William Byron, Richmond winner Austin Dillon or Daytona winner Ryan Blaney, one name has barely been mentioned.
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And what’s surprising about this particular driver is not only is he the defending NASCAR Cup champion but also has won two of the last three Cup crowns.
We’re talking about Joey Logano, who has been so quiet in terms of performance thus far this season. In the first 26 races, the Team Penske veteran has endured a very difficult tenure: just one win (Texas), three top-fives and seven top-10 finishes.
If you think Logano will be a one-and-done driver in this year’s playoffs, meaning he’ll be eliminated after the first round, think again. He could have been biding his time, waiting to explode in the 10-race post-season.
“I think overlooking Joey Logano is a pretty big mistake,” Team Penske President of NASCAR Operations Michael Nelson said in Saturday’s post-race media session. “He’s obviously really good. You saw that again tonight and had put himself in position and basically ran up front all night.”
Nelson isn’t just talking up Logano from a corporate standpoint. As Team Penske’s president of NASCAR Operations, Nelson has seen a lot of drivers in that era. And in five of those seasons, the champion who emerged was a Penske driver: Logano (thrice), Blaney (once) and Brad Keselowski (once).
Let’s not forget crew chief Paul Wolfe
And Logano has a secret weapon who really isn’t so secret. His crew chief, Paul Wolfe, has been on the pit box for Logano’s championships in 2022 and 2024, as well as Keselowski back in 2012.
“That team is experienced, they’re capable, they’ve been through this before,” Nelson said. “I think that really is a feather in their cap going into the playoffs is they’ve been there and done it before, so they have confidence that they can get it done.”
Sure, Logano finished 27th Saturday at Daytona due to being involved in a last lap wreck, but he qualified fourth and, like Nelson said, the Connecticut native was up front for much of the 160-lap event.
Logano’s fortunes are primed to change and there’s precedent to back up that statement. Heading into last year’s playoffs, Logano had just one win, just like he has this year. But then Logano went on to win three of the playoff races, including the championship race at Phoenix.
So if you’ve already written Logano off, you really should reconsider. He’s not a three-time Cup champion for nothing, the only active driver who has more than two Cup crowns (the driver with two Cup titles is Kyle Busch).
Logano admittedly has had a rough season to date. He’s recorded three DNFs, all due to crashes. He has an average finish of 17.0 (and an average start of 13.0). That certainly is not championship caliber, at least statistically.
Sure, Logano’s finish at Daytona did little to give him momentum heading into the playoffs, but he’s a driver that creates his own momentum, and does that in the playoffs. Consider this fact: since 2014, he’s recorded three championships, one runner-up, one third-place finish, a fourth-place finish and a fifth place showing.
And during that same period, he’s failed to finish out of the top 10 in final season standings just twice.
But here’s another stat to mull over: in the years he finished outside the top 10 (17th in 2017 and 12th in 2023), he rallied in the following season to win the championship in 2018 and 2024. That’s huge!
Logano could be the most dangerous driver in the playoffs
If there’s any driver who could be considered the most dangerous individual among the 16 drivers that qualified for the playoffs, it’s definitely Logano. He knows what needs to be done.
And we’ll leave you with one last Logano stat that no other 2025 playoff driver can match. At the upcoming 10 tracks, Logano has won a combined 19 Cup Series races, just over half his career win tally of 37. If that’s not an advantage for Logano, nothing is. He knows how to win there, including four times each at Phoenix and Las Vegas and three times each at Bristol, Talladega, and Kansas.
Some fans may consider Logano a sleeper in this year’s playoffs, but if there are any rival drivers who think they can take a nap around Logano, they’re likely going to be sorely mistaken.
