It should have been no surprise that after an afternoon of attrition at Texas Motor Speedway, it was Joey Logano who wound up in victory lane.
Logano was not involved in any of the 12 caution flags. While many of his rivals found themselves fighting bumps or bad air, Logano and the No. 22 team were using all 500 miles to make it to the front of the field. He took the lead with a move that should get more attention than it did in the moment when he was blocked to the inside backstretch wall by Michael McDowell. Not only did Logano keep his foot on the floor, but he still managed to get through Turns 3 and 4 without issue after entering the corner at an unorthodox angle. And then he held serve on an overtime restart.
All of this comes a week after Logano’s team was disqualified from Talladega Superspeedway, and his radio comments about teammate Austin Cindric were continuously discussed and provided a viral social media post for former MLB player Chipper Jones.
“I told my wife last week before we left, ‘Watch, we’ll go win this one,’” Logano said. “It’s just how we do stuff. Any time you kick us down, I feel like we come back 10 times harder, whatever that is in us. We definitely had a fast car, and it’s nice to change the storyline.”
Logano is an easy hero – or villain – to follow. Of course, it was the driver that was the target for many strong opinions all week that won the next race.
A driver gets disqualified and eliminated from the 2024 postse ason? Of course Logano is the next driver in line to advance. Of course, he is going to win that next weekend. Well, you see where this is going because, of course
Nashville Superspeedway going to five overtimes and a fuel mileage race? Logano wins. The 2018 championship billed as a fight between the three heavyweights in Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr., only for the other guy to take the title? A classic Logano perseverance story.
NASCAR adding new tracks to the schedule? Put your money on Logano. Bristol dirt. L.A. Memorial Coliseum. St. Louis.
Logano has main character energy, whether you like him or not. It might take time – likely after Logano is long retired – before realizing how talented and accomplished he has been in the Cup Series.
So, if you are surprised Logano won Sunday… well, why?
We have seen this movie before. Logano and his team are far better than any qualifying position they might produce, and at Texas, it was 27th. As he said post-race, Logano slowly and methodically worked his way through the field and was inside the top 10 by the end of the season stage.
A race of attrition wasn’t going to faze him or the team. A veteran driver and a veteran team, neither side gets rattled easily. They are the epitome of keeping your head down and going to work.
“Joey did what he typically does at the end of these races when you put him in position,” crew chief Paul Wolfe said. “I think (spotter) Coleman said it, there’s nobody better at it than him. He just continues to show us that as we go along here. It’s exciting to be part of, and I’m glad we could get our first win of the season.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle this year to get the results that I feel like we’ve shown the speed, but we haven’t put it all together, and it was nice to just have a nice solid day and be able to find victory lane finally.”
Logano is not go ing anywhere, and like on Sunday, he and his team always find a way to have the last laugh. The 34-year-old has won at least one race in 14 consecutive seasons and has finished eighth or higher in the point standings in 10 of the last 12 seasons, including those three championships.
“I think any time somebody says something about you, you can use it as motivation, whether it’s good or bad,” Logano said. “When you have some negative comments and things like that, you have a chip on your shoulder. Well, I’ll prove you wrong. You want that story.
“I don’t feel like I put more effort in one week over the others, but I think subconsciously there’s something that happens. Something happens in the playoffs. There’s something that happens when someone says something to you.”
