MIAMI — Joey Logano may have been very particular about his choice of words during Thursday’s Championship 4 Media Day at the Miami Beach Edition Hotel, but he was anything but short on confidence.
In fact, Logano still believes he and his Team Penske squad are the favorites to take home the ultimate prize during this weekend’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
Logano didn’t mince words when asked about his status in comparison to the so-called Big Three — Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. — as he seeks his first Cup Series championship this weekend.
“Man, I feel like what we’ve been able to do the last 15 races going into the playoffs and during the playoffs, all through this point … we’ve been able to execute under a lot of pressure without many playoff points behind us, and I feel like that says a lot about our team,” said Logano. “We’ve been able to get our way through each round, really by the time we get to the cutoff race, because we’ve been able to execute under the pressure and getting points. We’ve been leading races and getting stage wins.
“Our pit crew has been on it and we grabbed a race win (at Martinsville), maybe the most important one of all year, just to get us ready for this weekend. I still feel like we’re the favorites; I really do.”
Logano started the year with the best average finish among Cup Series drivers, with a staggering 6.9 average and 10 top 10s, but tailed off somewhat as the playoffs approached before rebounding in a big way over the last nine weeks.
Since the playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano has only finished outside the top 10 twice, and one of those was due to a blown tire and subsequent crash last week at Arizona’s ISM Raceway.
The Middletown, Conn., driver noted there is a lot to be said for peaking at the right time in the elimination format.
“That’s what the Playoffs are about, right?” said Logano. “It happens in all sports. You have to be able to race for wins when it’s most important. We’ve had to. We didn’t have anything to fall back on. We had to go, and we did. It took a long time for us as a team to get to this point.
“I feel like we’re back to where we were a couple years ago,” Logano added, referencing the 2016 season when he nearly won the title. “We’ve competed and led laps, which are things that turn into race wins quite often. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do. Where we were last year was hard. It’s really hard. It stinks and it’s tough, but the fact that we’ve been able to stay together, keep working through it … and get better is awesome. It’s great. It’s hard. It doesn’t happen like a light switch.
“You go down really quickly in this sport. It’s really hard to climb your way back up, but we’ve done it.”
Logano made headlines when he won at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway last month, bumping title rival Martin Truex Jr. out of the way en route to victory and a berth in the Championship 4.
When Truex said Thursday that he would move Logano for the title, Logano was quick to respond that Truex didn’t have a “free pass” to do so, but that he expected Truex to race him hard.
Logano also didn’t want to get caught up in the verbal mind games that his competition tried to play in the press conferences leading up to race weekend.
“Sometimes it’s best to keep your mouth shut, just go out there and kick ass,” stated Logano. “That’s just what you do. You go out there to win and that’s pretty much it.
“I’m not going to talk just to talk. I’m going to go out there and race my car. We’ll see what happens.”
