After another win, this time at Bristol, Joey Logano solidified one thing: he is ready for the Chase to begin. Despite having many battles at the front of the pack during Kyle Busch’s hot streak in July, Joey Logano kept falling short and still only had one win, the Daytona 500.
His luck changed when he won at Watkins Glen due to Kevin Harvick running out of gas late. He then went on to have a 7th place finish at Michigan before coming to Bristol and taking over late before eventually holding Kevin Harvick off en route to another win, his third of the season.
Earlier in the year, Logano had some real issues and there was reason for concern for the #22 team and Team Penske itself. In April and May, both Logano and Keselowski had finishes below 30th and the team just seemed like it was going through a small slump.
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Of course, that all changed soon after and the team improved but still no wins were coming even though the team was placing in the top 10 most weeks. However, at Kentucky on July 11th, Joey Logano really started to turn up the intensity and since then he has looked like a solid pick to make a deep Chase run.
After stringing together two wins, two second place finishes and two other top 10’s, Logano is easily the hottest driver in NASCAR at the moment. His run can be compared to Kevin Harvick’s from last season. Harvick had a small stretch during the middle of the year where he wasn’t up to speed with everyone else, then he turned on the jets and flew through the rest of the year, including the Chase, on his way to a Championship.
One of the most overlooked aspects of Logano’s race type is that he never disappears when the pressure is on. At some of the most hyped tracks of the year like the Martinsville, Charlotte, Sonoma, Watkins Glen and Bristol, Logano has placed no lower than 13th. Some of his biggest moments come at tracks with plenty of history and tracks that generally have more significance than the others due to the popularity with the fans.
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Another interesting part of Logano’s season so far is is his ability to finish high at 1.5 mile tracks. Of the six 1.5 mile tracks visited this season (Atlanta, Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas, Charlotte, Kentucky) he has an average finish of 6.3. This is critical due to the fact that there are five races in the Chase that are 1.5 miles long, at least one in each round.
Though Logano is only 25 years old, he continues to show us flashes of what he is going to be one he hits the prime of his career. As a matter of fact, he was just a matter of positions away from winning the Championship last season. With the way he has raced this season, particularly in the past few months, he should be more than ready to go once the Chase rolls around and I would imagine you might be seeing him compete for the Championship at Homestead again this year.