Tag: Joey Logano

Joey Logano reveals new nickname for crew chief Paul Wolfe in 2024

Joey Logano reveals the new nickname given to crew chief Paul Wolfe after clinching a spot in the Championship 4 at Las Vegas in 2024.

[autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag] didn’t have the best car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, not even one with top-5 speed; however, even-year Logano found a way. The driver of the No. 22 car was able to pull off the unthinkable at Las Vegas after crew chief Paul Wolfe called to stay out during the final green-flag run. Christopher Bell, who had the dominant car, came up just short of passing him.

Following the race victory, Logano sat down for his press conference and discussed his massive race in Las Vegas. In fact, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion even revealed a new nickname for his crew chief.

“When you put that together with Paul Wolfe, an incredible crew chief, we call him Big Ball Paul now (smiling), he really makes that happen there,” Logano said. “Engineers calculating everything. Then communication, right? To [Coleman Pressley], my spotter, back down to me as a driver, how much can I save, what’s going on around me. Obviously, we don’t want to win by too much, make sure you save enough gas to get to the end. Yeah, able to make it happen. So excited.”

It’s certainly a nickname that Wolfe has earned after two amazing calls at Las Vegas and Nashville Superspeedway. Logano wouldn’t be in the Championship 4 without Wolfe and vice versa. The driver-crew chief combination has proven to be one of the best in NASCAR, and there’s no indication that it will slow down anytime soon.

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Logano steals Vegas win and berth in Cup Series Championship 4

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano made his Team Penske’s fuel strategy call work to perfection Sunday afternoon to claim victory in the South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and earn the first of four NASCAR Cup …

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano made his Team Penske’s fuel strategy call work to perfection Sunday afternoon to claim victory in the South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and earn the first of four NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 berths.

Logano led only the final six laps on the Vegas 1.5-miler but was able to hold off the afternoon’s most dominant car, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by a slight 0.662s in the final few laps.

Bell, on the other hand, led a race-best 155 of the race’s 267 laps and won Stage 2, but he pitted 35 laps later than Logano and was not able to make up the nearly 30s advantage Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford held on track after Bell’s stop.

Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suaraez, who also used the same strategy as Logano, finished third after leading 57 laps, followed by Playoff driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Hendrick’s Alex Bowman.

 

It’s been quite the turn of fortune for Logano, who a week ago following a race at the Charlotte Roval thought he was eliminated from the Playoffs only to receive news from NASCAR hours after the checkered flag that he was reinstated. Bowman initially held that Playoff position, but his car was ruled illegal in post-race inspection and he was disqualified after the Roval race.

That meant Logano, not Bowman would advance to this Round of 8 which includes two more races – next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway and then Nov. 3 at Martinsville, Va. — to set the four-driver Championship field. Of note, Logano’s last Las Vegas Playoff race win in 2022 propelled him to the series championship.

“Man, we did some fuel mileage stuff, didn’t we? Holy crap,’’ said a smiling Logano, whose four career wins now at Las Vegas ties NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson for most all-time at the track.

“What an incredible turn of events here the last week. Very fast Pennzoil Mustang. We’re going to the Championship 4 again. It’s real. Great fuel mileage, great calls by [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe], Nick Hensley, our gas man, making sure she’s full, giving me the info to keep the lead that we needed to. We’re going racing again. What an incredible situation, man. I’m so blessed.

“Just incredible day. Like I said, it takes the whole team to do the fuel mileage stuff. Not just the engineers, spotter. It takes all of us to do it. Total team win. We may not have been the fastest car today, but we were a solid top-five car and be able to maximize it at the end.’’

Bell was as disappointed as Logano was elated.

“I don’t know [how to come to terms with the race ending] and I don’t think I have come to terms yet’’ said Bell, who is now 0-for-13 in wins after starting a race from pole position.

“Just a bummer. I think everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, pit crew did an amazing job and (crew chief) Adam [Stevens] called a great race. Did everything we needed to, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be today.

“The points look pretty good, but you’re never safe in this deal,’’ Bell added. “We needed to win today and unfortunately we didn’t. We’ll go on to the next one.’’

Las Vegas certainly provided major implications for the eight Playoff drivers – three of them were eliminated from winning contention by Stage 2, two more struggled with pit stops thereafter, leaving Logano, Bell, Byron and eighth place finisher Denny Hamlin to lead the championship presence among the top 10. Bell’s afternoon was good enough to propel him into the championship points lead with a 42-point advantage on the cutoff line.

Hamlin’s eighth-place effort was impressive after a difficult day for his No. 11 Toyota team, which endured a challenging day on pit road before also using a similar fuel-save plan to Logano.

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His teammate, JGR’s Martin Truex Jr., was sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hamlin, Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski’s Chris Buescher.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson finished 11th – falling off the lead lap at one point after also having a bad pit stop. He is now second in the points standings, 35 points above the cutoff line and his Hendrick teammate Byron holds that important fourth place, 27 points ahead of Hamlin.

Regular season champion and the race’s outside polesitter Tyler Reddick finished 35th, eliminated after a roll-over accident in tight racing on lap 90. The accident collected fellow Playoff driver, Chase Elliott along with Brad Keselowski and reigning series champion and Playoff driver Ryan Blaney.

“We can still have a good day at Homestead and be in the mix in Martinsville,’’ a frustrated Reddick said. “Ideally, yeah, it would have been nice to win today. It would be nice to win next week, and that is what we will focus on, but thankfully we got 10 stage points in stage one, and it’s not like we are absolutely out of it on points, yet. We are going to have to be perfect here on out, probably.”

It was a rough weekend from even before the race’s green flag for Blaney, who suffered a flat tire in Saturday’s opening practice that put his primary No. 12 Team Penske Ford into the wall. He started his backup from last in the 37-car field Sunday and was steadily moving forward before being caught up in that multi-car accident with Reddick and Elliott. He finished 32nd. Elliott was 33rd.

Hamlin is fifth in the championship standings, 27 off Byron. Reddick is 30 points below the cutoff line, followed by Blaney (-47) and Elliott (-53).

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to South Florida for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Bell is the defending race winner.

RESULTS

Joey Logano wins Cup Series race at Las Vegas, clinches Championship 4 spot

Joey Logano wins the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas, clinching a Championship 4 spot. Check out the full results from Las Vegas!

The NASCAR Cup Series arrived at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the drama was through the roof. Tyler Reddick won Stage 1 but ended up on his roof after contact with Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. Christopher Bell had the dominant car as he won Stage 2; however, it was another playoff shocker in the opening Round of 8 event.

[autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag] won the 2024 South Point 400 at Las Vegas, winning his third race of the season and clinching a spot in the Championship 4. With help from teammate Ryan Blaney, Logano was able to pass Daniel Suarez and build a big enough gap to the hard-charging Bell, who had pitted from the lead earlier in the Final Stage.

Logano, who wasn’t even in the Round of 8 at the checkered flag at the Charlotte ROVAL, will now fight for his third Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway in three weeks. Bell comes up just short of a Championship 4 berth but will look forward to Homestead-Miami Speedway as another opportunity.

NASCAR results from Las Vegas in October 2024:

  1. No. 22 Joey Logano (P)
  2. No. 20 Christopher Bell (P)
  3. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
  4. No. 24 William Byron (P)
  5. No. 48 Alex Bowman
  6. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
  7. No. 1 Ross Chastain
  8. No. 11 Denny Hamlin (P)
  9. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
  10. No. 17 Chris Buescher
  11. No. 5 Kyle Larson (P)
  12. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
  13. No. 8 Kyle Busch
  14. No. 51 Corey LaJoie
  15. No. 21 Harrison Burton
  16. No. 71 Zane Smith
  17. No. 7 Justin Haley
  18. No. 10 Noah Gragson
  19. No. 31 Daniel Hemric
  20. No. 34 Michael McDowell
  21. No. 15 Cody Ware
  22. No. 41 Ryan Preece
  23. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
  24. No. 4 Josh Berry
  25. No. 43 Erik Jones
  26. No. 14 Chase Briscoe
  27. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  28. No. 84 Jimmie Johnson
  29. No. 16 Shane van Gisbergen
  30. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
  31. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
  32. No. 12 Ryan Blaney (P)
  33. No. 9 Chase Elliott (P)
  34. No. 2 Austin Cindric
  35. No. 45 Tyler Reddick (P)
  36. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
  37. No. 3 Austin Dillon

Hard work at Charlotte Roval pays off for Reddick and 23XI

Tyler Reddick wouldn’t say Sunday was the drive of his career, but he acknowledged he certainly had to fight to make the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Reddick advanced by four points over Joey Logano. But the regular season champion …

Tyler Reddick wouldn’t say Sunday was the drive of his career, but he acknowledged he certainly had to fight to make the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Reddick advanced by four points over Joey Logano. But the regular season champion wound up having a dramatic day at the Charlotte Roval after colliding with his boss, Denny Hamlin, going into Turn 7 on lap 31 when the field stacked up behind a spinning Austin Dillon. Reddick was hot on the brakes when his car hit the left side of Hamlin’s and went airborne.

The incident damaged the toe link of his Toyota. Reddick fell to 37th place after initially pitting and the rest of the afternoon saw more pit stops for repairs, having to drive through the field.

“I’m hurtin’ now,” Reddick said. “I got pretty airborne, right? It felt pretty crazy. My neck is probably a little sore, but there are a lot of good curbs you can go out there and jump; I was having to get aggressive and try to find speed. The car was still pretty good but it took all the repair work that everyone put in to finally get it somewhat drivable again.

“It was definitely a lot different from what we had in the beginning of the race. I think the track would have really come to what our car was in Stage 1, but just to get it back to where we were and be able to make passes was a good effort.”

Reddick had been 14 points to the good entering the day, but after winning the first stage (which gave him 10 more), the incident in the second stage kept him out of the points. Logano earned 17 points between the first two stages.

“I’m behind [Martin Truex Jr.] and I can’t see much,” Reddick said of what happened in Turn 7. “I was just trying to get to the inside of [Truex], and I get inside [him] and my eyes open up more. I can see the apex of the corner. The [No.] 3 is spun around and everybody is on the brakes stopping.

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“You’re expecting everyone to take that corner somewhat normally but as soon as I could see what was happening ahead, everyone was hitting the brakes and stopping to avoid a spin. It was the wrong place at the wrong time for us.”

In the final stage, Reddick was mathematically below the cutline as the points were updated in real-time. However, the final caution with 29 laps to go allowed him to come to pit road for fresh tires.

He restarted 26th as Logano ran sixth. Then the march began.

Reddick was 24th with 25 laps to go and Logano was fifth. He was 23rd with 24 laps to go, 22nd with 23 laps to go, 21st with 22 laps to go and Logano was still fifth. The No. 45 was then 20th with 21 laps to go and Logano lost a spot, dropping to sixth.

With 20 laps to go, Reddick was 19th. At 18 laps to go, he was 17th (and the gap was then down to four points). He took 15th on the next lap, narrowing the gap to two points. Four laps later, he shrunk that gap to just one point by taking 14th.

At 11 to go, Reddick held station and Logano lost another spot, dropping to seventh, tying the two on the cutline. With nine to go, Reddick was 12th, giving him a two-point advantage. In two more laps, he picked up a further point on Logano when he took 11th place.

Logano then lost a further spot before the checkered flag, putting the final points gap at four.

“With how my car was driving before that pit stop, I was a bit unsure,” Reddick said of getting back through the field. “But we kept making adjustments to the car.”

‘It’s hard not to feel angry right now’ – Logano eliminated at Roval

Joey Logano knows exactly where he lost the points he needed to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs – not that it makes him feel any better. Logano was eliminated from championship contention Sunday at the Charlotte Roval, coming up short by …

Joey Logano knows exactly where he lost the points he needed to advance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs – not that it makes him feel any better.

Logano was eliminated from championship contention Sunday at the Charlotte Roval, coming up short by four points. The final spot went to Tyler Reddick, who used fresh tires in the final run of the race to gain the necessary positions to overtake Logano. As the field ran before the final caution flew with 29 laps to go, Logano was mathematically ahead of Reddick.

The two-time Cup Series champion from Team Penske would have had the tiebreaker had it come down to it. Reddick went from 26th to 11th place at the finish. Logano, who restarted sixth, fell to an eighth-place finish.

“[I feel] angry at the moment, and I guess it’s bittersweet because we still have something to race for through the end of the year with the owner’s championship,” Logano told RACER. “We can still spoil the party a little bit [and] we will fight for that, and I like that part of it.

“But it’s hard not to think about where four points lay, and really it lays on the entry of Turn 3 at Richmond. [That’s] really where it is, so it’s hard not to feel angry right now.”

Richmond Raceway was Aug. 11. Logano led on the last lap going into Turn 3 when he was spun by Austin Dillon, who came from multiple car lengths back to make contact. Dillon needed a win to make the postseason, and he did win the race, but having also made contact with Denny Hamlin in Turn 4, NASCAR stripped his postseason eligibility.

Logano went from first place to 19th from the spin, leaving him with 32 points. A victory that night would have netted Logano five playoff points that he would have carried through the playoffs.

Coincidentally, the final caution Sunday afternoon that allowed Reddick to come to pit road for fresh tires was because of Dillon. The left front wheel left loose during Dillon’s pit stop car came off.

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The race restarted with 26 laps to go. Reddick began picking off one competitor a lap. The gap was four points between Logano and Reddick with 18 laps to go as Logano ran sixth and Reddick was 17th. The gap was gone, and they were tied, with 11 laps to go as Logano fell to seventh place and Reddick was up to 14th.

It was with 12 laps to go when the points swung in Reddick’s direction. The 23XI Racing driver moved up to 12th place while Logano was still seventh. Over the final laps, Reddick kept moving forward. Logano stalled out.

“Once he started forward, I thought we were going to be in trouble there because we weren’t going forward anymore and the rear tires were shot on the car,” Logano said. “I knew they were going to be coming at me.”

Logano’s No. 22 is still eligible for the owner’s championship while Reddick, although he beat Logano in the driver’s championship hunt, is eliminated in the owner’s hunt. Reddick’s No. 45 car did not have as many playoff points in the owner’s championship because it didn’t win the regular season championships (Kyle Larson’s No. 5 car did).

That’s the small solace Logano has leaving Charlotte.

“We’ve still got a lot to fight for,” he said. “We have a chance at winning the silent championship that still pays really well, so we’ll go for that.”

Logano launches Cup playoffs in style with Atlanta win

With a strong last-lap push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano rocketed into the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with an overtime victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In a …

With a strong last-lap push from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano rocketed into the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with an overtime victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

In a two-lap shootout that sent the first Playoff race of the 2024 season six laps past the posted distance of 260 laps, Logano had the lead by more than a car-length when NASCAR called a caution on the final circuit for a mid-pack wreck behind the leader.

 

The victory was Logano’s second at Atlanta, his second of the season and the 34th of his career. The driver of the No. 22 Ford vaulted to fifth in the Playoff standings, but the win guaranteed him a spot in the next round.

“[Penske] just gives me really fast cars on superspeedways, and we always find ourselves towards the front of them, [but] we just end up wrecking more times than not,” said Logano, who led twice for nine laps, a far cry from teammate Austin Cindric’s race-high 92.

“To be able to finally capitalize on a fast race car and win here in Atlanta again… I lived right over there in condo 805 for a long time (as a child racing Legend Cars), waking up dreaming of just racing on this racetrack.

“So pulling into Victory Lane here is always a special one. We had such a really good team here today. It’s awesome to get (sponsor) Autotrader into victory lane, and the JL Kids Crew (one of Logano’s charitable enterprises) are here today, so it’s really cool to finally win with them here.”

When NASCAR called the caution on the final lap, February Atlanta winner Daniel Suarez was inches ahead of Blaney, the defending series champion. But with the third-place finish that entailed surviving a three-car wreck on lap 205, Blaney took over the series lead by five points over Christopher Bell, who finished fourth.

After a strong, consistent run throughout the race, Alex Bowman finished fifth, as Playoff drivers claimed nine of the top 10 positions.

The lap 205 wreck Blaney survived proved the undoing of Martin Truex Jr. After repeated trips to pit road, Truex left the race 12 laps down and heads for next Sunday’s second Playoff race at Watkins Glen International 15th in the standings, 18 points below the current cutoff for the Round of 12.

Suarez raced beside Logano on the first lap of overtime but lost his pusher when Trackhouse Racing teammate Ross Chastain washed up the track in Turn 3 and fell back.

“No, definitely not satisfied,” Suarez said of the second-place result. “I am happy with it, but not satisfied. I lost my pusher, my teammate. He was doing a great job, and I felt like we were going to have a great shot at it.

“Ross was doing an amazing job of pushing, and I don’t know if he got a flat tire or something, but once I lost him, I knew it was going to be tough, but that is part of racing, right?”

The race was incident-free for the first 55 laps, but on the 56th circuit, calamity struck top-seeded Kyle Larson and fellow Playoff driver Chase Briscoe.

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As cars at the front of the field were exiting Turn 2 on Lap 56, Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet, running third, broke loose and shot into the outside wall at roughly 160 mph.

As the car rebounded off the SAFER barrier and slid sideways in the middle of the track, Briscoe’s Ford slammed into Larson’s Camaro, ripping the left front quarter panel off the No. 14 Mustang.

Both Larson and Briscoe exited the race, in 37th and 38th, respectively, and scored one point each for their efforts on Sunday.

“I’m OK,” Larson said after leaving the infield care center. “Thankfully, everything held up well inside the car. That was a huge hit. I’m not really sure what caused it.

“I was actually sort of tight and loaded in the corner. Then I was pretty far around the corner, and it just stepped out. I don’t know, it all just happened really fast.”

Briscoe, who earned his Playoff spot with a victory a week earlier at Darlington Raceway, leaves Atlanta below the current cut line with a win-or-bust mentality.

“It was a big hit, one of the biggest hits I’ve had in a long time,” Briscoe said. “I’m glad I’m all right, and we just have to go win. That’s what we had to do at Darlington, and I know we’re capable of doing it again, so we’ll just have to go to Watkins Glen and Bristol and try to do the same.”

Larson leaves Atlanta in 10th place, 15 points above the current cut line for the Round of 12. Briscoe is 16th in the standings, 20 points on the wrong side of the equation.

Regular-season champion Tyler Reddick came home sixth, overcoming issues on pit road. Non-Playoff driver Kyle Busch finished seventh after leading 24 laps in the final stage. Chase Elliott was eighth, followed by William Byron and Cindric.

Collected in the last-lap wreck, Playoff driver Harrison Burton finished 31st and is 15 points behind Ty Gibbs, who finished 17th after leading 37 laps and is 12th in the standings. Brad Keselowski ran 19th and is tied with Gibbs.

Denny Hamlin ran at the back of the pack throughout the race and was collected in the last-lap wreck, finishing 24th. He heads for Watkins Glen 11th in the standings, a mere two points ahead of Keselowski.

RESULTS

Joey Logano wins the Round of 16 opening race at Atlanta, full results

Joey Logano wins the Round of 16 opening race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Check out the full results and race recap from Atlanta!

The NASCAR Cup Series entered Atlanta Motor Speedway for the start of the 2024 playoffs, and it was complete mayhem. Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric won the first two stages, which saw Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe wreck. However, it was the other Team Penske driver who came home with a secured spot in the Round of 12.

[autotag]Joey Logano[/autotag] won the 2024 Quaker State 400 at Atlanta, clinching a spot in the Round of 12 due to his second win of the year. Logano was able to surge ahead after a great push from Blaney and cleared Daniel Suarez. The driver of the No. 22 car was able to hold on as Denny Hamlin and Harrison Burton crashed further down in the pack.

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Logano will be able to relax more at Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway as he focuses on earning more playoff points during the next two weeks. It was a wild day in Atlanta; however, Logano can breathe easy as NASCAR takes on two unpredictable race tracks.

NASCAR results from Atlanta in September 2024:

  1. No. 22 Joey Logano
  2. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
  3. No. 12 Ryan Blaney
  4. No. 20 Christopher Bell
  5. No. 48 Alex Bowman
  6. No. 45 Tyler Reddick
  7. No. 8 Kyle Busch
  8. No. 9 Chase Elliott
  9. No. 24 William Byron
  10. No. 2 Austin Cindric
  11. No. 31 Daniel Hemric
  12. No. 51 Justin Haley
  13. No. 1 Ross Chastain
  14. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  15. No. 7 Corey LaJoie
  16. No. 77 Carson Hocevar
  17. No. 54 Ty Gibbs
  18. No. 41 Ryan Preece
  19. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
  20. No. 3 Austin Dillon
  21. No. 71 Zane Smith
  22. No. 34 Michael McDowell
  23. No. 44 J.J. Yeley
  24. No. 11 Denny Hamlin
  25. No. 78 B.J, McLeod
  26. No. 43 Erik Jones
  27. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
  28. No. 4 Josh Berry
  29. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
  30. No. 15 Cody Ware
  31. No. 21 Harrison Burton
  32. No. 16 Shane van Gisbergen
  33. No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
  34. No. 10 Noah Gragson
  35. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
  36. No. 17 Chris Buescher
  37. No. 5 Kyle Larson
  38. No. 14 Chase Briscoe

Logano eager for a reset as playoffs begin

A long NASCAR Cup Series regular season is over, culminating with the toughest race of the season Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. Joey Logano, for one, was glad to see it end. “Good,” Logano laughed. “Thank God. I was ready for that one to be …

A long NASCAR Cup Series regular season is over, culminating with the toughest race of the season Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.

Joey Logano, for one, was glad to see it end.

“Good,” Logano laughed. “Thank God. I was ready for that one to be over and have the second part of our season fire off and have a reset in points.”

Logano finished eighth in the Southern 500, his first top-10 finish since mid-July at Pocono Raceway. The regular season produced one win for Logano (Nashville Superspeedway) and two stage wins. He finished 15th in the regular season standings.

But now that the field has been reset, the two-time Cup Series champion for Team Penske (the only driver with multiple championships in this year’s playoff field) begins his quest for another title reseeded in the ninth position. But he has just seven playoff points to start the postseason.

“We kind of dug ourselves a pretty deep hole early in the season and honestly, crazy things have happened all year,” Logano said. “I’m glad to have that behind us, and we close the gap there … when the playoffs start. So, we’ll fire it away and get this thing in the Championship 4.”

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Logano has been in the title race five times — along with Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, the most for any driver in the Cup Series. However, on the heels of his second championship last year, Logano was eliminated in the first round.

The team hasn’t won multiple races in a season since its 2022 title run. In 2022 and ’23, Logano ended the season with the same number of top-10 and top-five finishes. And although they continue to be in title contention, it still appears the team is fighting for consistent speed that would keep them near the front.

“We have a lot of experience on this team, I think that’s probably the biggest [strength],” Logano said. “We’ve all been there, done that at this point. We’re a pretty old team. There’s nothing wrong with that; I think that’s a good thing when you can go into the playoffs because for a lot of these guys, it’s some of their first, second, or third time in the playoffs, and maybe some of them haven’t gone very far.

“So, we’ve been there and done that, and I feel confident we can run hard and get something out of it.”

The fight for survival begins with the first postseason race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It’s the first time a superspeedway race will be the kickoff event, which can quickly put favorites on their back foot early. Logano will be considered a favorite, as Ford drivers are on superspeedways, but he’s not getting ahead of himself.

“Yeah, but it’s still a superspeedway and you saw how the last one ended in Daytona,” the 2023 spring Atlanta winner said. “As confident as you feel about having speed in your race car and being able to win that race, you also have the same thought in your mind that, boy, you can get caught up in something there, and it happens really quick. We just have to stay up front and get stage points when you can and race your guts out until the end of that one.”

No matter what might be ahead, it’s Logano’s favorite time of the year.

“I love it. I love it,” he smiled. “That’s why I said I’m happy the regular season is over. I wish we had a better finish through the points but the positive side is it’s over. So, moving on.”

2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 odds, picks and predictions

Looking at the odds for Sunday’s 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400, with NASCAR expert picks and predictions.

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The NASCAR Cup Series races Sunday at the 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 at to Michigan International Speedway. Green flag is slated to drop shortly after 2:30 p.m. ET (USA Network). Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s lines around the 2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 odds, and make our expert NASCAR picks and predictions.

2024 FireKeepers Casino 400: What you need to know

  • RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher won last season’s race in Michigan with an average speed of 131.159 mph, starting from the No. 4 position
  • The winner in 10 of the past 14 Michigan NASCAR Cup Series races has started 4th or higher, including 4 wins from the pole during that span
  • Ford has dominated this race recently, winning 9 consecutive NASCAR Cup Series starts since June 10, 2018
  • Chevrolet last went to Victory Lane at MIS when Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson won Aug. 13, 2017
  • Toyota hasn’t taken checkers in the Irish Hills since Matt Kenseth won for Joe Gibbs Racing back on Aug. 16, 2015
  • JGR’s Denny Hamlin is on the pole after rain washed out qualifying Saturday
  • Hamlin has won twice at MIS in his NASCAR Cup Series career, posting 12 top-5 finishes, 18 top-10 runs and a 12.3 Average-Finish Position (AFP), although his most recent win here was in 2011
  • Larson goes off from the 4th spot in the starting grid. He has 3 wins, 7 top-5 finishes and 222 laps led with a 10.9 AFP in 15 career Cup starts
  • TrackHouse Racing’s Ross Chastain has struggled over the years in Michigan, posting a dismal 26.0 AFP in 6 Cup starts
  • Penske Racing’s Austin Cindric has managed finished of 12th and 37th (a DNF) in his 2 Cup starts in the Irish Hills
  • Hendrick’s Alex Bowman has had tremendous difficulty in a Cup car at Michigan, posting a 24.1 AFP with just 3 top-10 finishes and only 19 laps led in 14 Cup starts with 3 DNFs
  • Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, who had a controversial win in Richmond last weekend, starts 10th. He has 2 top-5 finishes, 38 laps led and a 17.4 AFP in 20 career Cup starts in Michigan

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2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 – Expert pick

Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 12:51 a.m. ET.

RYAN BLANEY (+1100) is a tremendous value at Michigan International Speedway, as Ford just always seems to find a way to cross the finish line 1st. In the past 9 races, Ford has brought the manufacturer a victory. It’s a super important race just down the road from the Motor City of Detroit, and it seems to just mean more for manufacturers Ford and Chevrolet.

Blaney, who starts from the 8th position in the grid, is the highest starting Ford. He has a win in Michigan in 15 career Cup starts, posting a 5 top-5 finishes, 8 top-10 runs and 59 laps led with 1 DNF and a 14.1 AFP.

Check out Motorsports Wire: For the auto racing fan, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s website covers NASCAR, F1, IndyCar and more.

2024 FireKeepers Casino 400 – Contender

Penske’s JOEY LOGANO (+1800) is also a strong value, if you don’t want to back Blaney, or you’d like to pick a couple of teammates to back.

Logano was intentionally wrecked last week in the final lap at Richmond, as he appeared to be on his way to a win until Dillon spun him in Turn 4.

As long as Logano keeps his head, and doesn’t put revenge over a potential win, he has the ability to take checkers in Michigan. For the chance to multiply up by 18 times your initial wager, it’s a bold play, as the temper and revenge situation is a risk.

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Kyle Busch has spicy words for Joey Logano after Austin Dillon wrecked him at Richmond

Kyle Busch still has no love for Joey Logano: “Be mindful of what you do, I guess. It’s always going to come back on you.”

Nearly a week later, everyone around NASCAR is still talking about last Sunday’s wild finish at Richmond in the Cook Out 400.

In case you missed it, Austin Dillon – desperate to win the race and grab a playoff spot – ran into the back of Joey Logano’s No. 22 car coming out of the final turns, spinning him into the wall. In the very next moment, Dillon then clipped the rear right panel of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car, sending him to the wall too. Dillon went on to win the race, his first in nearly two years, behind some very aggressive driving that was polarizing among fans and drivers alike – celebrated by some and widely criticized by others.

Since then, NASCAR penalized Dillon by ruling that his win would not count towards playoff eligibility – which Dillon is appealing. It also fined Logano for his actions after the race, where he spun the tires of his car down pit road in front of Dillon’s No. 3 pit box.

On Saturday at qualifying for the FireKeepers Casino 400 in Michigan, reporters caught up with Kyle Busch who offered his thoughts on the whole scene. If there was one thing that came out crystal clear, it’s that Busch still has no love for Logano.

“There’s a lot of guys that have done some desperate things to get wins even when they’re not desperate. The one that had it happen to him is probably the one that’s done it the most that doesn’t need to do it. I guess his comments – he can be calling himself that… Be mindful of what you do, I guess. It’s always going to come back on you. YouTube is there for not all positives.”

Simply put, Busch could’ve just said: what goes around comes around.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – AUGUST 11: Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, and Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on August 11, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Busch, of course, is no stranger to aggressive driving or controversy himself. After the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro this year he got into a fistfight with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

It’s also worth noting two things: First, Busch is a teammate of Dillon’s at Richard Childress Racing. And second, he has a history with Logano, getting into a pit road kerfuffle with him in 2017 in Las Vegas after Logano wrecked him.

Earlier this week, Dillon told Dale Earnhardt Jr. that Busch congratulated him after the race in Richmond:

“He leaned down in the window and I said, ‘Man, that got wild.’ And he said, ‘It doesn’t matter, you won it either way. You were the best car, and you dominated,’ which means a lot to me.”

Engines fire up for the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Hamlin is first in the starting grid after qualifying, Dillon is 10th, and Busch and Logano are nestled together at 13th and 14th. Stay tuned for any more potential fireworks between the drivers.

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