Logano eyes another NASCAR Cup title at Phoenix Raceway
With about 40 laps to go last weekend at Kansas Speedway, Joey Logano was in first place.
A win and the 30-year-old would clinch his fourth chance to race for a title. But there was one problem: He had to stave off Kevin Harvick.
Harvick leads all drivers in 2020 with nine victories and playoff points scored. Having Harvick right behind him during the final stretch of the race was more than just stressful.
It was exhausting.
“When you’ve got Kevin Harvick breathing down your neck for 40 laps, yeah it’ll wear you out a little bit,” Logano said Thursday.
Once the checkered flag was finally waved, Logano maintained his lead and won his third race of the season.
Logano will now get to put his playoff experience to the test. He earned a chance last weekend to race for a championship again. The Connecticut native was a NASCAR Cup Series champion in 2018.
“That trophy sitting behind me, I want another one,” Logano said as he leaned to his right to show the Cup Series trophy he earned in the background of the Zoom call. “Even if we didn’t win it, being in the championship (four times) really gives you a lot of confidence, just in knowing what’s coming your way.”
With top two finishes in consecutive weeks, Logano has found his stride at the perfect time.
Before last Sunday in Kansas, he hadn’t won a race since NASCAR returned from a two-plus month absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The last couple of weeks have gone really well,” Logano said. “We’ve gotten a couple of really solid finishes obviously.”
Ironically, the last race Logano had won before the season shutdown due to the pandemic was at Phoenix Raceway in Glendale in May.
It was the No. 22’s second career win in the Grand Canyon State, the previous one being in November of 2016.
He’s ready for a return to the track in November for the championship. Logano said Phoenix Raceway is “one of a kind for sure.”
“The shape of it is unique,” Logano said. “Especially when you look at turns one and two compared to three and four. The ends are very different. One’s a flat, long sweeping corner while the other is pretty sharp with some banking.
“We call it a short track, but you’re still going 160 or so miles an hour so you’re still getting some really good speed into these corners.”
Before this year, the NASCAR Cup Series championship race had been held at Homestead-Miami Speedway since 2002. Logano says adjusting to a new race site for the Cup Series finale will be different. But as he explained it, the transition won’t be too much of a challenge. “It’ll be a little different of a feel, but it’s going to be different no matter what because of COVID,” Logano said.
“There’s nothing that feels normal anymore.”
2020 has been a wild season for Logano and for NASCAR as a whole. But if he’s learned anything from this season, it’s that adjusting to the unexpected hasn’t been as treacherous as he thought it would be.
“We all get so concerned about things that we haven’t done before,” Logano said. “But until you try it and do it, you really don’t know. I think that’s probably been one of my biggest takeaways this year.”