Joey Logano Embraces Veteran Role In Championship Battle

Joey Logano is only 32 years old, but he’s the veteran face of the four drivers vying for a Nascar Cup Series championship this Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

Logano is in his 14th full-time season in Nascar’s premier division, and he’s aiming to win his second championship. Not only is he confident in his Team Penske squad’s ability to win on Sunday, but he’s realizing he has an advantage over 2020 champion Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain.

“I think we’re going to win,” Logano, who solidified his spot in the Championship 4 with a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 16, said. “We’re not celebrating the fact that we’re in the Championship 4. We want to celebrate when we’re champions.”

Logano is the only driver in the Championship 4 to have locked in his spot for Phoenix ahead of last weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway. His three competitors didn’t know if they’d be competing for the championship trophy until the checkered flag waved on Sunday evening.

Advantage goes to Logano. He explained.

“Immediately, on the Monday after Vegas, we put the plan together for how we’re going to win (at Phoenix),” Logano said. “What are those things we need to talk about over the next two and a half weeks, executing the plan we put together, how to make our car better and making sure the team is ready.”

Only 16 drivers have won two or more Nascar Cup Series championships, with the last to do so being Kyle Busch in 2019, who is currently the only driver in the field with multiple titles. Logano won his championship in 2018,, but he believes his 506 career starts is the difference maker this time around.

The three drivers racing against Logano for the championship have the same amount of experience combined as he does. Elliott has seven full seasons under his belt, Chastain has four and Bell has three.

Just eight years ago, Logano was the young, inexperienced face in the championship battle. He was entering his first Championship 4 after years of being touted as one of the best prospects in the sport’s history. He even earned the nickname “Sliced Bread” by Nascar Hall of Famer Mark Martin because he was the best thing anyone ever saw in the development divisions.

It took Logano several seasons and a move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Team Penske to solidify his status as a premier racer. Since joining Penske in 2013, Logano has 28 wins, including the 2015 Daytona 500. He won a career-high six races in 2015.

“It’s nice to be around as long as I’ve been,” Logano said. “I’m able to use that experience to my advantage. I’m still 32 years old. It’s a nice spot to be in and it’s a unique spot to be in. There’s no other competitor that has as many laps as I have and be fairly young. It’s something to use to our advantage this weekend.”

This year, Logano has three wins (Darlington, Gateway and Vegas) under his belt and 16 top 10s. It’s been just an average year for the 2018 champion, who had an average finish of 10.7 that season.

As Logano prepares for the final race of the year, he’s been using USA Network’s Nascar docuseries Race for the Championship to learn about his peers.

“It’s interesting for me even as a competitor, sitting and watching it,” Logano said. “I can see how my competitors prepare for a race and what their weekly life is like. It’s been interesting to see.

“I don’t know if there’s anything I’m going to use against them, but it’s interesting to see how different our lives are. Our jobs are the same, but our lives couldn’t be more different.”

And to top it off, Logano is so confident in his title hopes that he’s already thinking of how he can party even harder than after his first championship.

Logano said, “Hopefully, it’s just as good the second time.”

Nascar’s championship race at Phoenix begins on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. ET. on NBC.