Joey Logano urges NASCAR to make ‘big’ changes to fix short tracks in the Cup Series. Find out what Logano had to say about the racing!
NASCAR entered Martinsville Speedway looking to improve upon the racing the NextGen car has provided since 2022. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much change as drivers struggled to pass other competitors, and the tires didn’t wear as much as in previous seasons. [autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag] was one driver who saw this happen as he took two tires and led most of Stage 2.
On Tuesday, Logano jumped on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and talked about the tires and short-track racing after Martinsville. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion is concerned like everyone else and wants the sport to make significant changes.
“Bristol was good because the tire came apart,” Logano said “And that was good. Richmond and Martinsville, gosh, we got to swing the bat. We’ve got to do something big to fix it. I hate saying it, but we’re not an aero package away anymore. We’ve tried that. We’ve hit that button a few times. We’ve got to do something to make the tires fall off. I get it. Listen, here’s the deal, Goodyear has built a tire that is too good.”
“If you’re looking to buy a tire on the street. That’s the tire you want. You want the tire that is going to last forever…But that’s not what we want as racers. It’s a fine line. Think about it. If you are Goodyear and the storyline is these tires are coming apart or they’re wearing out quickly, well, then you would say, ‘I don’t want to put that on my car.’ We have to somehow separate our street wants versus our racecar wants.”
Bristol was unpredictable because the tires did not lay rubber on the track and were wearing very quickly. Obviously, NASCAR and Goodyear shouldn’t push to that extreme with the tires, but changes need to happen. Martinsville and Richmond are historically good tracks, and the NextGen car has turned them into shells of their former self.
Joey Logano discusses his near victory at Richmond Raceway in March 2024. Find out what Logano said about his second-place finish!
In the final 10 laps of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway, [autotag]Joey Logano [/autotag] was catching Martin Truex Jr. but never reached him. Instead, a caution with two laps to go gave Logano an opportunity to pass Truex on pit road. The No. 22 car came off pit road in third place and never had a genuine opportunity to win the race with a second-place finish.
Following the event, Logano talked about his second-place finish at Richmond. While a second-place finish is good after a rough start, the two-time Cup Series champion still expressed disappointment that he came up short.
“It feels good, and it hurts at the same time because we were so close to winning the race,” Logano said. “I mean, it’s a race track that we expect to run well at, it’s our best race track and we’ve been consistently in the top-5 and having shots to win.”
“I started pressuring [Martin Truex Jr.] at the end of that long run, and he got to racing hard with [Ross Chastain] trying to stay on the lead lap. I said, ‘This is my opportunity.’ I got [Denny Hamlin] to burn his stuff up trying to pass me, and I said, ‘OK, this is my chance,’ and I got close to him and burned my stuff up with about three [laps] to go, and I wasn’t going to get him.”
At the end of the night, Logano’s pursuit of Truex didn’t matter because a caution came out with two laps to go. The driver of the No. 22 car had an opportunity but never got in a good enough position to make it happen. Now, Logano will look forward to Martinsville Speedway as he looks to spark some momentum after a rough start to the new campaign.
Joey Logano isn’t going to deny it’s been a rough start to the NASCAR Cup Series season for his Team Penske group, and part of the problem is accepting some of the results. Logano had speed at the two superspeedway races to start the season, Daytona …
Joey Logano isn’t going to deny it’s been a rough start to the NASCAR Cup Series season for his Team Penske group, and part of the problem is accepting some of the results.
Logano had speed at the two superspeedway races to start the season, Daytona and Atlanta, before a mediocre run (his words) at Las Vegas. But that mediocre run netted Logano’s only top-10 finish thus far. Bristol Motor Speedway was a day of tire attrition and in hindsight, Logano should have pitted when he ran his tires down to the cords instead of waiting for a caution that never came.
“I rode around over three seconds off a lap — that clicks off pretty quick in 15-second laps — and I lost two laps doing that,” Logano said Thursday during his one-hour appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “So that stunk. And then last week at (Circuit of The Americas) we were OK. Nothing special. We had a horrible qualifying run that was on me and then we scratched and clawed from 35th to 11th, so not too bad.
“That’s kind of the problem, if I’m being honest with you right now. We looked at 11th and said, ‘That’s not too bad.’ That’s a problem. We want to be pissed off about 11th. That’s where we want to get to.”
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Las Vegas and COTA are Logano’s only top-20 finishes. Logano failed to finish the Daytona 500 and at Phoenix Raceway and is 22nd in the championship standings.
“It’s a slow climb back to the top — it always is,” Logano continued. “But you have to start slowly, grabbing the little victories here and there. Little things that we’re doing well on and off the track. And there is, and we’re slowing grabbing some points back up through the ranks a little bit.
“We’re going to Richmond this weekend (and) that is one of my favorite racetracks, one of our best racetracks — maybe our best racetrack as the 22 team. So I look forward to having a solid run there, scoring some stage points, putting ourselves in position to win. That’ll be key. I feel more confident at Richmond than I have at really any other track this year, so hopefully we can have a solid run.”
Given how close the competition is, Logano believes it won’t take much to turn things around. But it’s not just one hurdle Logano’s No. 22 team is fighting because he said it’s been something different every weekend.
“The speed knob is one of them that we have to tune up the most right now because that’s the one that puts you in position the most,” Logano said. “I’m not in panic mode. I’m concerned, obviously, by where we’re at but I’m not in panic mode. Everything usually averages out.
“We’re still 20 races or so from the playoffs starting. We have time to get ourselves back up there. … We’re scratching and clawing back up there and we’ll get there.”
Logano feels there are “definitely some gains” from the new-for-2024 Mustang bodywork, but “I don’t think we’re maximizing the potential out of the car yet.” Rusty Jarrett/Motorsport Images
In his 12th year driving for Roger Penske, Logano said this is the worst start his team has ever had to a season. Another variable is the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which Logano said teams don’t completely understand yet. Since the offseason, Logano has preached that while things looked good on paper, it will be different when on the racetrack.
“We need to understand what those differences are,” Logano said. “I think in some ways there’s definitely some gains (with the new body), and in other ways, I don’t think we’re maximizing the potential out of the car yet because I don’t think we completely understand everything about it.
“Engine-wise, we need help there, for sure. We need to try to move forward in that department as much as we can to stay competitive.”
Six other Ford drivers are sitting higher in the Cup Series point standings than Logano. However, only one — reigning champion, Ryan Blaney — is inside the top 10. Of the three manufacturers, Ford is the only one that has not won a race.
“I’m not telling any secrets here, we’re definitely off right now,” Logano said. “We don’t have a Ford up there winning races consistently at all. Or even in the threat of doing that right now outside of superspeedways. That’s our strength for sure — we’re great at those. We’re the best cars at superspeedways, no doubt in my mind.
“That’s not enough races. We need to be good at some other ones, too. We’re working at it. It’s never a quick turnaround, but the first thing we have to do is pinpoint exactly where we are off (and) in what areas. Not (just) saying engine or downforce — what areas and be very specific in what areas we need to work on so we can focus on those things, and it then takes time to develop and apply those developments to the race car.”
Logano has three straight top-10 finishes in the last three Richmond races. In 29 starts, Logano has an average finish of 10th at Richmond with two victories.
Joey Logano calls for John Hunter Nemechek to “man up” after wrecking him at Phoenix. Find out what else Logano had to say about Nemechek!
[autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag] appeared to have a top-10 car when NASCAR Cup Series practice concluded at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, but that wasn’t the case. Logano qualified in 23rd place and didn’t have the speed all day. The driver of the No. 22 car then wrecked out after a bad misjudgment from John Hutner Nemechek started a big wreck in the back of the pack.
Following the accident, Logano didn’t mince words as Nemechek ruined any chance of his salvaging the day. The Team Penske driver was hoping to claw his way into the top 20 spots on the lead lap and earn more points after a dreadful start to the season.
“I think I just got hit from behind,” Logano said. “It is a shame. We weren’t running well anyway, but this doesn’t make it any better. We were just fighting for lucky dogs. You get back there, and everyone is racing not real good, and we got caught up in it.”
John Hunter Nemechek sends Joey Logano for a ride, collecting Josh Berry, Corey LaJoie, Derek Kraus and Zane Smith.
“Well, you have to lift to make the corners,” Logano said. “You can’t hold it wide open around Phoenix. Maybe [John Hunter Nemechek] should take a look and realize he can’t do that. He drove straight into the back of me. He needs to be man enough to own up to that.”
Logano now sits 30th in the point standings after four races to start the 2024 NASCAR season. The two-time Cup Series champion has every right to be upset at Nemechek after he clearly got dumped from behind. It’ll be interesting to see if anything else comes from the incident moving forward, but Logano needs to focus on having good results after a rough start.
Joey Logano found himself atop the NASCAR Cup Series time charts once again in practice for the Shriners Children’s 500 Friday at Phoenix Raceway, but this time with a contingent of Toyotas breathing down his neck – six of the top 10, in fact. The …
Joey Logano found himself atop the NASCAR Cup Series time charts once again in practice for the Shriners Children’s 500 Friday at Phoenix Raceway, but this time with a contingent of Toyotas breathing down his neck — six of the top 10, in fact.
The Team Penske driver worked his No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse up to a 131.167mph lap (27.446s) followed by Denny Hamlin (131.081mph), Tyler Reddick (131.066mph) and John Hunter Nemecheck (130.985mph). Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric broke up the Toyota party in fifth (130.976mph).
Reddick slid himself into the top five in spite of a spin part way through the session, creating a lot of smoke as he lost control of his 23XI Toyota Camry in Turn 2. The incident brought out a brief red flag despite Reddick keeping all four corners of his car off the walls.
Chase Elliott (130.747mph), Christopher Bell (130.331), Bubba Wallace (130.222mph) and Carson Hocevar (130.199) completed the top 10.
Last week’s Las Vegas winner Kyle Larson came in only 20th at 129.627mph while teammate and defending Phoenix spring race winner William Byron was mired back in 24th (129.464mph).
Kyle Busch was a notable absence from the sharp end of the field as well, struggling to dial in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet throughout the 55-minute session and ultimately ending up 31st at 128.797mph.
Next up: Qualifying for the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway Saturday at 2:10 p.m. ET (FS1) to set the field for Sunday’s race at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox, MRN and SiriusXM. Kyle Larson is the defending polesitter.
Joey Logano provides an honest answer on NASCAR’s business model in the Xfinity and Truck Series. Find out what Logano had to say!
Over the last two decades, the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series have been used as a ladder to the Cup Series. One of those drivers who has benefited is [autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag]. The two-time Cup Series champion ran 19 races in the Xfinity Series during the 2008 season, which immensely helped Joe Gibbs Racing’s decision to make him Tony Stewart’s replacement in 2009.
Over the last few years, NASCAR’s financial side has really struck Xfinity and Truck Series teams. Logano jumped on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and gave his honest assessment of the sport’s business model for the Xfinity and Truck Series in 2024.
“I’d like to run some [Truck Series] races or some [Xfinity Series] races, if I could,” Logano said. “I’d like to race more than what I do. I’m telling you, our sport, its crazy. It’s crazy that, and I’ll be real with you here, I get paid to drive a [Cup Series] car. That’s great. I have to pay to drive an Xfinity car or a Truck. I have to show up with money on the doorstep to drive one.”
“If I wanna go down a series or two, I have to pay a signiciant amount of money to get in a car to drive. I just think that’s the craziest thing to think about. Unfortunately, that’s where our sport is, and that’s why it’s so hard for kids to make it these days. If a two-time NASCAR champion can’t drive an Xfinity car for free…how do you expect a kid that’s got no experience to come up with the money from a sponsor to pay to go do something like that? I hate that part of our sport, and I don’t have the fix.”
This is a hard thing to fix with the Xfinity and Truck Series, but Logano is absolutely right. It is becoming increasingly difficult for young drivers to showcase their talent due to the financial restrictions of not having a sponsor. Logano doesn’t have a solution to the madness, but hopefully, NASCAR can figure out a few ways to make teams more profitable without sponsors from drivers.
Joey Logano said Saturday he shares in the responsibility of the No. 22 team being penalized by NASCAR for the webbed glove he wore last weekend. It was the left-hand glove Logano wore during qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway that cost him …
Joey Logano said Saturday he shares in the responsibility of the No. 22 team being penalized by NASCAR for the webbed glove he wore last weekend.
It was the left-hand glove Logano wore during qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway that cost him $10,000 after being sent to the rear of the field and having to serve a pass-through penalty. NASCAR deemed it was both a safety violation for modifying SFI safety equipment and a competition infraction because it was used to block air through the window net.
The Team Penske driver, however, didn’t admit as to who came up with the idea. But Logano did wear the glove when it was given to him by the team.
“That’s kind of how a lot of things work,” Logano said. “As a driver, you work with the team and hey, I’m going to take a portion of the responsibility of that, too, obviously. I should. I put the glove on. With that said, I didn’t build the glove. I didn’t make it on my own. I can’t sew, so that’s what it was and we had conversations about it.”
Logano will start from the pole Sunday in Las Vegas, his second pole in three weeks. It was a performance that came with a bit of a chip on his shoulder after the events of last week.
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“What I’m proud about as a team is, yeah, that was a tough situation for us. It was hard to go through and embarrassing, for sure,” Logano said. “But the fact [is] that we got through it and just move on and focus on the next week. We showed that we have some speed in our race car and to be able to put it on the pole here, to me, is a statement-type lap, so I’m proud of that.”
NASCAR did not review in-car footage from Daytona and Brad Moran, the Cup Series managing director, said they don’t know if Logano wore the glove for Daytona 500 qualifying. It was a random review of in-car camera footage at Atlanta that caught the webbed glove Logano was wearing. Logano did not comment on whether he wore the glove in Daytona.
Logano even went as far as to deny that wearing the glove made a difference.
“It didn’t do anything to speak of,” he said. “It was directionally an area that everybody goes to try to block that hole. You see everyone put their hand there; we just tried to cover more space.”
Joey Logano will start from the front row for the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race after claiming the pole Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a speed of 184.357mph (29.291s). It’s his second pole in three races. “Paul [Wolfe] got her …
Joey Logano will start from the front row for the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race after claiming the pole Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a speed of 184.357mph (29.291s).
It’s his second pole in three races.
“Paul [Wolfe] got her tuned up for me pretty good,” Logano said of his crew chief making adjustments between qualifying rounds. “I didn’t think that was going to be enough because the second round just feels different, right? And you’re in the car and you’re like, ‘Gah, it’s not going to be good enough.’ But the tires fall off a little bit.
“It’s always important to start up front in the Pennzoil 400 and we got that with our (Pennzoil) Mustang today. That’s front row every start so far this year, so I’m proud of this race team. I’m proud of everyone’s efforts, and obviously, when you bring a new Mustang to the racetrack, you’re always a little bit uncertain of what it’s going to be, and a lot to learn obviously with the Dark Horse Mustang as well, but so far so good in qualifying.”
It is the 30th career pole for Logano in the Cup Series. It will be the third time he’s led the field to the green flag at Las Vegas.
Kyle Larson will join Logano on the front row. Larson qualified second at 184.225mph.
Austin Cindric qualified third (184.093mph), William Byron fourth (183.911mph), Bubba Wallace fifth (183.648mph), Chase Briscoe sixth (183.486mph), Martin Truex Jr. seventh (183.169mph) and Ty Gibbs eighth (183.150mph).
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Chris Buescher qualified ninth (182.927mph) and Christopher Bell completed the top 10 (182.556mph).
Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team are the defending race winners.
Saturday was the first time teams qualified with the new procedures for this season on non-superspeedway racetracks. The drivers in Group A qualified for a starting position on the outside row, while the drivers in Group B qualified for a starting position on the inside row.
That procedure is used just for the drivers who do not advance to the final round (11th through 40th).
Chase Elliott qualified 11th and Michael McDowell, 12th. Carson Hocevar qualified 14th, which is a career-best on a non-superspeedway racetrack. Derek Kraus qualified 33rd for his Cup Series debut.
Three drivers did not post a qualifying lap.
Ryan Preece is going to a backup car after he crashed in practice. He spun on his own in Turn 2 and hit the outside wall with the left side of his Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Justin Haley did not post a lap when his Rick Ware Racing team pushed his car to the garage after practice with a steering issue. JJ Yeley was the other driver who didn’t make a qualifying attempt for NY Racing Team.
NASCAR revealed Saturday that the entirety of Joey Logano’s left glove was webbed last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he was penalized before the start of the Cup Series race. The two-time champion from Team Penske was sent to the rear of …
NASCAR revealed Saturday that the entirety of Joey Logano’s left glove was webbed last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway when he was penalized before the start of the Cup Series race.
The two-time champion from Team Penske was sent to the rear of the field and required to serve a pass-through penalty. Earlier this week, NASCAR also fined him $10,000.
It was a twofold penalty. NASCAR penalized Logano at the racetrack for a competition infraction by using the webbed glove to block air, while the fine was for a safety violation. The alteration to the glove modified an SFI-approved piece of safety equipment.
Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, showed the webbed glove to the media Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Moran explained the violation was found during a review of in-car camera footage from Logano’s car, which was viewed in slow motion. NASCAR was not tipped off about the glove, but it was a random safety check as NASCAR reviews in-car footage to see a driver’s helmet height, headrest height and movement in the cockpit.
“We have our safety cameras inside all the Cup cars and we review them quite often during practice and qualifying, and we look for oddities,” Moran said. “All on driver input from last year — they want safety improved and cleaned up. We’ve done a lot of shop visits over the last two years. We look for head surrounds. We look for hoses going to the helmets. We look for everything in the car to make sure it’s safe and we don’t catch anything. A lot of the new drivers, we’ll review them as well to make sure they’re sitting in their seats properly.”
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Moran said Logano was included in “about five cars” randomly checked at Atlanta. However, NASCAR does not know if Logano was using the same glove at Daytona International Speedway the week before, where it would also be common for drivers to put their hands up against the window net or in the opening between the window net and A post to keep air from coming into the cockpit.
“An SFI piece of protective equipment cannot be modified in any way,” Moran said. “It’s as delivered; that’s how SFI approves it, and SFI does not approve any glove with any webbing, obviously for safety reasons. … So the reason for that is obviously you can block more air. The drivers do put their hand up against the opening, which we’ve never really had a rule against it, but this obviously goes one step further, and this becomes not only a competition problem, it becomes a safety violation because that glove is no longer SFI approved.
“Regardless of what the material is made of, regardless of who put it on there, it’s not as delivered, it’s not as tested, and it’s an unapproved piece of SFI safety equipment.”
Moran also showed the roof rails confiscated from the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 and No. 41 cars. Both pieces came from the right side of the vehicle. The roof rails are team pieces and not single-sourced supplied parts.
Stewart-Haas Racing was docked 35 driver and owner points to both teams. Moran explained it was only the Nos. 10 and 41 cars with the infraction. The other two Stewart-Haas Racing cars and the rest of the field were checked and found to be within compliance.
“They’re a team part that is designed to be built off a CAD file, so there’s really no gray (area),” Moran said. “They have to be built exactly to CAD. Unfortunately, we had the No. 41 and the No. 10…the right side – there are three per side; they sit in a groove on top of the greenhouse — they’re meant to sit flat. So the problem we had with these, and they were the exact same for both cars, you’ll see they have like a pressed mark. So that’s been pressed.
“That dent is not supposed to be there. These are supposed to be flat … and that’s not done from tightening any bolts or anything else. The head of the bolt is not that big.”
NASCAR has penalized Joey Logano due to his gloves not meeting SFI specification. Additional penalites are likely coming next week.
The NASCAR world was shocked by the news about [autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag]’s gloves before the Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. NASCAR announced that Logano would start in the rear and serve a pass-through penalty at the start of the event due to his gloves not meeting SFI specification. The driver of the No. 22 car was previously expected to start in second place.
Logano’s gloves appeared to have been altered at the webbing, a safety and competitive violation. NASCAR’s safety penalty toward Logano is the penalty at the beginning of the Cup Series race at Atlanta. Meanwhile, the competitive penalty is likely to come next week when the penalty report is revealed.
Wow, I’ve never seen this before in my time as a NASCAR writer.
Joey Logano will drop to the rear and serve a pass through penalty for his gloves not meeting SFI specification.
Logano isn’t the only driver to have their eyes on the penalty report. Fellow Ford teammates Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece had confiscated roof rail deflectors before the weekend. Logano and Team Penske will hold their breath for what’s coming. It is uncertain what NASCAR will do about Logano’s gloves, but for now, he will focus on climbing out of a hole in Atlanta.
