Logano rides momentum in Charlotte groove

NASCAR driver primed for Coca-Cola 600 after two straight wins at track

CONCORD, N.C. — Joey Logano has shown he has a pretty good feel for the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Now the question is whether he can go the distance — 600 miles, that is.

Logano looks to complete a “Joey sweep” at CMS at the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday after winning last October’s 400-mile playoff race and the Sprint Cup All-Star race here last weekend.

The 26-year-old will start on the front row alongside pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. for the longest and most grueling NASCAR race of the year.

He’s hoping the momentum from winning the All-Star race carries over after his previous three Sprint Cup races ended with crashes.

“It is nice to break through after three tough weekends and be able to break through and get that first victory of the year,” Logano said. “Even though it was the All-Star Race and it didn’t count for points, we really want to win this Coca-Cola 600.”

Logano is eighth in the Sprint Cup point standings and has three top-five finishes in 12 races, but he is still searching for his first points race victory of the season.

In fact, he hasn’t won since winning three straight races in the Chase for the Cup contender round of the playoffs last year, a string of 16 straight races.

But Logano said his confidence is running high given his recent success at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It’s become one of our best race tracks, for sure,” Logano said. “Any time you go to the race track and the last two races you’ve run you’ve won, that makes you feel good and obviously gives you a lot of confidence going into the race.”

Logano likes that he’ll have a premier pit stall for the race.

“You look at 600 miles and you may say qualifying doesn’t matter much, but we’re going to spend a lot of time on pit road in this race, so the pit stall is going to mean a lot to us,” Logano said. “We’ll have a good one. We won’t have as good of a one as if we were able to get the pole, but we’ll get the second best stall in our opinion. Overall, our car has speed. It’s transferred over from last weekend.”