Joey Logano looks like he could be NASCAR’s next champion and he means business

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Joey Logano, the only NASCAR Cup driver advancing to this year’s championship race so far, said he doesn’t have fun-driving a race car.

“I’ll go to a go‑kart track and have fun,” Logano said. “That’s not what this is about. This is about winning.”

The No. 22 Team Penske driver said the same of his third victory of the season at Kansas Speedway on Sunday; The post-race celebrations, relief and, ultimately, the knowledge that he’ll have another chance to compete for a Cup championship — that is the fun part. The racing itself?

“This is a job,” Logano said. “Putting food on the table for not only my family, but countless others that helped this race team. No, I don’t look at it as fun. I look at it as a job to win.”

Logano’s intensity translated into successful blocks of second-place finisher Kevin Harvick in the final 40 laps of the Hollywood Casino 400, a playoff race that ended without the side-by-side competing or late-lap passing that critics of NASCAR’s intermediate track package wanted to see.

Logano instead defended his way to the Championship 4 by keeping the series points leader stalled behind him through the checkered flag. Harvick, who finished in second, credited Logano’s lack of mistakes.

“There were a lot of things that could happen with lapped cars,” Harvick said. “Him guessing wrong, me being able to run the bottom or run the top (lane) or get a good run.

“... It never materialized.”

Now Logano, the 2018 Cup champion who was five points below the championship cutoff before the Round of 8, has the opportunity to repeat his title-winning season, in which he won the first race of the semifinal round to eventually win the series crown.

“I definitely think it’s somewhat of an advantage to us,” No. 22 crew chief Paul Wolfe said of the early victory in the Round of 8. “Whether we want to look at stats of who won the first race (to win) the championship, that’s great.”

Harvick, who sits 41 points over the field, said he’s targeting the next race at Texas to secure his spot in the final race, and Denny Hamlin (+20) could also be a likely Championship 4 competitor despite his struggles at Kansas. Multiple drivers said last week that the Round of 8 “feels like” six drivers competing for two spots based on where Harvick and Hamlin sit in points.

Logano claimed one of those spots, and has the advantage of more time to prepare for the final show. He said having the “weight lifted off (his) shoulders” is only part of it.

“The ability to start working on your Phoenix car, not worry about your Texas and Martinsville car — I don’t want to say that — but you’re 100% focused on one more race,” Logano said.

There could be other “underdogs” who emerge over the course of the next two races — such as Alex Bowman, who finished third at Kansas, or Chase Elliott, who has had the best average finish in the playoffs — but Logano said he’s embracing that role for now, and was in the same underdog situation when he upset the “Big 3” of Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. in 2018.

“I’m A-OK with being the underdog,” Logano said. “Kind of been there for most of my career.”

Logano, who was flying under the radar without a win since before the pandemic, becomes a very possible 2020 champion with the advantage of more time to focus on a final car, the comfort in competing as an “underdog” and the knowledge of returning to the track where he won earlier this season for the final event.

“We know we’re in it,” Logano said. “Just got to stay healthy, get there, go for the big trophy when we get out there again and try to win another Phoenix race.”

And if he does that, maybe then, he’ll have some fun.

NASCAR PLAYOFF STANDINGS AFTER KANSAS

Joey Logano

ADV (win at Kansas)

Kevin Harvick

+41

Denny Hamlin

+20

Brad Keselowski

+8

Chase Elliott

-8

Alex Bowman

-27

Martin Truex Jr.

-31

Kurt Busch

-73

NASCAR AT KANSAS FINAL RESULTS

Pos.

Driver

Car No.

Time Behind

1

Joey Logano

22

WINNER

2

Kevin Harvick

4

0.312

3

Alex Bowman

88

0.68

4

Brad Keselowski

2

3.197

5

Kyle Busch

18

3.866

6

Chase Elliott

9

4.379

7

Ryan Blaney

12

4.696

8

William Byron

24

4.86

9

Martin Truex Jr.

19

5.715

10

Christopher Bell

95

8.178

11

Austin Dillon

3

10.673

12

Matt DiBenedetto

21

11.079

13

Aric Almirola

10

11.099

14

Cole Custer

41

12.659

15

Denny Hamlin

11

12.951

16

Ricky Stenhouse Jr

47

13.355

17

John Hunter Nemechek

38

16.254

18

Bubba Wallace

43

16.688

19

Michael McDowell

34

19.264

20

Erik Jones

20

19.647

21

Chris Buescher

17

23.309

22

Ryan Newman

6

24.383

23

Corey Lajoie

32

25.254

24

Ty Dillon

13

-1

25

Tyler Reddick

8

-1

26

Clint Bowyer

14

-1

27

Daniel Suárez

96

-2

28

Brennan Poole

15

-4

29

Ryan Preece

37

-5

30

JJ Yeley

27

-6

31

Jimmie Johnson

48

-6

32

James Davison

53

-9

33

Quin Houff

00

-9

34

Timmy Hill

66

-11

35

Josh Bilicki

7

-13

36

Reed Sorenson

77

-17

37

Joey Gase

51

-39

38

Kurt Busch

1

-70

39

Chad Finchum

49

-113

40

Matt Kenseth

42

-123