At a track where he has never won before, Joey Logano had a golden opportunity to secure his place in the playoffs. But his pole in Sonoma could not be turned into a victory as Team Penske’s gamble did not work and ended up costing the two-time Cup Series champion dearly. He might have started the race well but got involved in a serious wreck and was never able to recover, finishing P21.
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Sonoma is a place where track position means a lot and Logano had the best one at the start of the race. To not lose out on it at the stage caution, the #22 crew decided to bring him in early. However, that meant that he came out in the mid-pack which saw multiple wrecks throughout the race. The Team Penske star was caught in one of them, heavily damaging his car’s rear.
Joey Logano gets collected in a multi car wreck after pitting pic.twitter.com/Oj3kdRxtDM
— Rubbin is Racing (@rubbinisracing) June 9, 2024
After that, it was not the same for Logano. His crew did whatever possible to fix the car after the race but Logano kept complaining that something did not feel right. According to reports, Logano said that something felt bent in the car that was not allowing him to extract its full potential.
It was that kind of a day for Team Penske who were hoping for all three cars to perform well at Sonoma but only one was able to do so when it mattered.
Ryan Blaney saves face on a dismal day for Team Penske
Ryan Blaney had a good weekend in wine country. He qualified well and was able to stay in touch with the pack at the front of the field and finished P7. Sadly for Penske, he was the only one who finished in the top 10 as Austin Cindric suffered a similar fate as Joey Logano. It could have been a lot worse.
Around the lap 30 mark, the #2 driver lost control of his car and went for a trip on the gravel. At the time it did not seem serious but on the replay, it was evident that Cindric’s car almost flipped over. That would have been a scary turn of events but thankfully, he was alright and finished the race in P22.
