It has not been a typical Joey Logano season. The Team Penske driver comes into Saturday night’s second-to-last regular season race at Richmond having a very difficult year.
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Logano has only one win (at Texas), two top fives, and six top 10 finishes in the first 24 races of the season. What’s more, he is 13th in the standings heading to Richmond and up to this point has earned a paltry seven playoff points.
While he’s locked into the upcoming NASCAR Cup playoffs, Logano is at a point where he needs to catch fire and get rolling in the playoffs.
On this week’s edition of Motor Racing Network’s Crew Call with Steve Post and Todd Gordon, Logano’s fortunes – or potentially lack thereof – were discussed at length with Logano’s crew chief, Paul Wolfe.
Despite their performance so far, Wolfe isn’t worried about his driver or his team’s chances. He knows that when it comes time for the playoffs, Logano typically rises to the occasion and works his way up to the top of his game. It’s no wonder he’s won three Cup championships, including last year’s and two in the last three seasons.
“I don’t think it changes our approach,” Wolfe said of Logano’s mediocre record to date this season. “We’re a strong enough team and company that obviously it’s gotten more and more competitive, but if we go out there and just not make mistakes, right, we typically have enough speed and enough experience to get through this (first) round.”
History Hasn’t Always Been on Logano’s Side
But when Logano has had similar difficult seasons, he’s typically been an early exit from the playoffs. For example, in seasons that he’s earned only one win, Logano has finished 20th (2009), 17th (2012), 8th (2013), 17th (2017), 8th (2021), and 12th (2023). Again, Wolfe isn’t worried about his driver’s situation.
“I like how the playoffs lay out for us,” Wolfe said. “I really see a good path for us to get to (the championship finale at) Phoenix, as you look at the strengths of some tracks in each round for us. Playoff points, there’s not many there. And we’ve tried, we’ve worked to try to build some more there when we can, but unfortunately, we just haven’t done it in the regular season.
“But with that being said, I don’t know that it’s out of the norm for us to go into the playoffs with few (points), and it doesn’t by no means discourage us from thinking we have a shot at it. We’ll just need to be on our game and limit our mistakes.”
