Every driver in the NASCAR Cup Series has a checklist to follow before turning the ignition on his car before a race. This is more self-imposed than it is imposed by the team that they drive for or the racing promotion. For Joey Logano, it begins with assessing what to expect from a particular race along with the core members of his crew. He revealed the procedure in a recent interview with Nasdaq.
Advertisement
Logano won the 2024 Cup Series championship last month with a resounding victory in Phoenix. His appearance on The Winning Formula series is one of the many interviews he has done since.
He said, in response to being asked about his pre-race routine, “I am not superstitious. I don’t have any of that weird stuff but I have routines to make sure I am ready.”
“Whether that is mentally prepared by going over a lot of the what ifs of the race. I wanna know what can happen by working with our core group that runs the race. Which is our crew chief, spotter, myself, and a couple of engineers as well, helps with that.”
The group puts a game plan together according to their analysis. This is followed by the personal checks that he does to ensure safety.
He continued to note that not having the seat belt on or other such mistakes are just distractions. Perhaps the most important routine that he follows is to be on the same page with his team and believe in their work.
He said, “If you show and don’t believe your team can win, don’t even show up. You can’t BS that part. You can’t say I am ready, I am confident and fake till you make it. That doesn’t work.”
Logano explains how the pressure of the NASCAR schedule falls on the driver ultimately
Cup Series teams travel across the country every weekend for races. The schedule is completely hectic for every member of the crew let alone the driver.
But at the end of the day, at some point, it is the man behind the wheel who has to shoulder a larger part of the pressure. Logano detailed this in the interview.
He said, “Because at some point it’s gonna fall on the driver, right? The car is great, you gotta work on strategy, and the pit crew and all that’s gonna work out. But, eventually at the end, it’s gonna come down to man and machine and you gotta show up.” This is where the minute self preparation part comes into play.
Although he does take a larger part of tougher mentality requirements, he has made it a point to celebrate the victories with his crew and give its members an equal share in it. Admirably, Logano is one of those drivers who races for the success of others rather than just their own.
