Logano confident team will rebound
BROOKLYN, MICH. With an encumbered win, Joey Logano is in jeopardy of missing out on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at the end of the season.
Logano has had eight top- 10 finishes this season, including the encumbered win in the Toyota Owners 400 on April 30 at Richmond International Raceway. Logano went from worst to first in that race, but NASCAR found an issue with the rear suspension after a teardown at the R& D Center in Concord, N. C.
“It is on my mind,” Logano said Friday at Michigan International Speedway. “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t, but it isn’t something I am very concerned about. I feel like this team is strong enough to get through it. We just need to get through it, build momentum. The way these stages are, you can gain points pretty quick.”
Logano acknowledged it hasn’t been a fun season, but he also tries to keep perspective on the tough times.
“Someone said, ‘ We aren’t curing cancer out there, we are just trying to make circles really fast,’ ” Logano said. “It is something we can fix. This team is strong. We have been through this stuff before.”
Logano, a two- time winner in the Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway, including last June, enters the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday 11th in the series standings with 362 points.
Logano, who drives the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske, got a boost of confidence by running third fastest in practice Friday ( 200.479 mph) behind Kyle Larson ( 200.798) and Kyle Busch ( 200.619).
“To be able to unload today with decent speed, then switch to qualifying trim and find more, that last run is definitely a nice turnaround for us,” Logano said. “We have been lacking a little speed, but this seems like the best racetrack for us to turn this around.”
Todd Gordon, Logano’s crew chief, was fined $ 50,000 and suspended for two races after the April 30 result. Logano was docked 25 driver points, the team was penalized 25 owner points, and although the win wasn’t taken away, he was denied an automatic playoff berth for the violation.
“We have to be able to string three or four solid races together like we know how to,” Logano said. “We have strung 15- 20 great races together before. It is nothing this team hasn’t done before. We are very strong. No one is pointing fingers. There is none of that going on.
“We just have to get through it as a team together.”
Logano is no stranger to victory lane. He has has won 18 times on NASCAR’s top circuit, including three times last season and twice during the playoffs. He finished second to Jimmie Johnson in last year’s standings.
“This team has been racing for a championship the last three years and have come very close the last three years in a row,” Logano said. “Nothing has changed.
“It is the same group, the same people, and we didn’t forget how to do things. We are just going through a little rough period.”