Logano matures into leading role

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Joey Logano was initially unrepentant, insistent he had done nothing wrong in a feud with Matt Kenseth that ultimately cost Logano a chance to win his first Cup championship.

A year later, Logano has a new perspective about the soap opera that fueled the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. He returns to Martinsville Speedway today with a maturity that could put Logano in position to win that elusive title.

“I learned some valuable lessons last year,” Logano said. “I learned a whole new level I didn’t even know I had. Now I know how to reach that level mentally inside a racecar to make things happen and be a great leader for my team.”

Logano was en route to NASCAR’s championship race last year as perhaps the driver to beat for the title. He’d swept the threerace segment of the second round of the Chase, and was dominating at Martinsville, headed toward a win that would have advanced him to the season finale.

Then Kenseth intentionally wrecked Logano as payback for a spat that started during the second round of the playoffs. Logano had already won at Charlotte to secure his spot in the third round, and Kenseth was closing in on a must-win victory at Kansas that would have extended his playoffs.

But Logano, who only had a trophy on the line that day at Kansas, raced Kenseth hard in the closing laps and spun his rival. Kenseth was livid at how hard Logano had raced him. Logano didn’t care.

The hard feelings simmered for two more weeks, then with Kenseth out of the playoffs, he exacted his revenge.

Looking back, Logano knows now his shoulder shrug attitude toward Kenseth flamed the fire. Had he picked up the phone, called Kenseth or sent him a text, it might have changed the entire season. Kenseth might have let it go, Logano would have won at Martinsville, maybe would already have a Cup championship.

That’s all in the past as the third round of the playoffs begins at Martinsville, and Logano and Kenseth are both still in play. Logano scored a must-win victory last week at Talladega to advance, while Kenseth used consistency and a play-it-safe strategy to ensure Joe Gibbs Racing got all four of its Toyotas into the next round.

Logano is the only Ford driver still in the playoffs. He has to face the entire JGR organization — the team he raced for before they let him go and he was scooped up by Roger Penske — as well as six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, who leads 2014 winner Kevin Harvick and a trio of Chevrolets.