Second Thoughts on NASCAR: Too early to panic over Joey Logano’s rough start
Joey Logano has had a rough start to the season. He has wrecked in three races with only one finish better than 28th (ninth at Las Vegas). He sits 30th in the standings, 35 points behind the cutoff.
It’s not time to panic for Logano, but the start has been hard to watch. No wonder he was frustrated when exiting the care center following his wreck Sunday after John Hunter Nemechek got into the back of him.
Logano is a fierce competitor and admits he’s different when the helmet is on versus when the helmet is off. You listen to him in the FOX Sports booth for some of the Xfinity Series races this year, and you wouldn’t think he has had an awful month to start the year.
He had a right to be frustrated with Nemechek running into the back of him Sunday and when told that Nemechek said he didn’t mean to get into the back of him but felt Logano slowed a bit, it is understandable that Logano wasn’t going to take any of the blame if he felt none of it was on him. The spice in his voice showed he hasn’t lost that competitive spirit and knew that having a bad day puts a driver in the position to potentially get wrecked.
Despite the poles he has won this year, he can’t leave the Vegas-Phoenix swing feeling that great about his speed. But the thing about Logano is he has dealt with enough adversity, and has a crew chief Paul Wolfe, who will put him in position to rally from where he sits in the standings.
Logano hasn’t won in nearly a year as his winless streak has reached 35 races — his last win was at Atlanta in March 2023. It’s the main reason why I didn’t pick him to make the playoffs, something that he has mentioned in news conferences with a vibe of enjoying the banter but not enjoying the fact people doubt him. My theory was that I wasn’t convinced Ford improved on its cars to the point where he would consistently lead laps and he seemed to be a prime candidate to be a driver who would finish in the top-10 in points but not make the playoffs without a win.
That pick probably will be wrong — it seems whenever people seem to begin to doubt Logano, the Team Penske driver shows just how great a competitor and driver he is by achieving more than expected.
And you can now add my new FOX Sports colleague Kevin Harvick to that list of those beginning to doubt Logano, when Harvick named Logano his biggest concern among the Fords in the young 2024 season in the latest episode of his new “Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour” podcast.
“I’m most concerned about [No.] 22, Joey Logano,” Harvick said. “That’s my biggest concern right now. They were good at Daytona. Controlled the race. But man, giving yourself just an opportunity to win at Talladega and Daytona? Those are the only two superspeedways we have left before the playoffs. I mean, is that really their only chance to win at this point? I don’t know. They haven’t really shown the speed outside of [those tracks] — they didn’t show it at Phoenix and they didn’t show it in Vegas. If I’m a Ford fan in general, I’m concerned.”
Still, both Harvick and co-host Mamba Smith acknowledged Logano has proved his doubters wrong before, with Smith pointing out that Logano is still a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“I think Joey Logano can figure it out, I think those [Ford drivers] have the experience to figure it out,” Harvick concurred. “I just don’t know if they have the car to compete with the Toyotas and Chevrolets.”
When will that time for Logano to prove those concerns wrong once again? He has won Cup races at five of the next six tracks — twice at Bristol, twice at Richmond, once at Martinsville, once at Texas and three times at Talladega.
But maybe more importantly, he will be the driver who doesn’t crash out of several more races. If he doesn’t have winning speed, he’ll still get the ninth-place finishes like he did at Vegas.
It won’t be enjoyable for him as Logano doesn’t race for second. He has the will. How he finds the way should be fun to watch.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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