Getty Images Former NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano finds himself falling back.
Joey Logano appears to be the odd man out at Team Penske. Just ahead of Bristol, Logano finds himself in 30th and struggling to improve. It’s a shocking development for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
So what’s causing Logano to underperform? It’s more than just bad luck.
Logano can’t blame his team. Team Penske is overperforming. And not just in NASCAR. Team Penske is leading the pack, or close, in NASCAR, IndyCar, the WeatherTech series, and World Endurance Championship. Driving for Team Penske means you have the tools to compete for wins. Logano’s failing is on him. Even his attempt to gain from wearing non-sanctioned gloves in late February hasn’t helped.
Toughest Start of the Season for Joey Logano
On March 13, four days ahead of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Logano admitted that 2024 “is definitely the toughest start of a season I’ve ever had.”
Not an exaggeration.
Four races in and Logano has only one top 10 finish. He’s 100 points off the lead — currently held by Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. At the March 13 race press conference, the normally cocky Logano accepted his lumps, mostly. “Some of it’s out of our control. Some of it, in our control.”
He added, “The superspeedways, Atlanta, our cars were really fast. Vegas, we were mediocre. Last week was a struggle. With that said, the way the races are these days, you can pick that car up, put it fifth, and it’ll probably run fifth. Just we didn’t qualify good enough and stay up there and get up there. And then we got caught up in that crash there with John Hunter. So, just one of those things.”
A few days later, teammate Blaney got pole at Bristol. Logano got fourth. Not bad, but of course he started first at Daytona, first in Las Vegas and second in Atlanta. It’s race day where Logano has been flailing this season.
Joey Logano Getting Upstaged by Ryan Blaney
The biggest moment Logano’s had this season was when he got busted for trying to use non-approved gloves just ahead of the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta on February 25. It was suggested that Logano was trying to get a slight aerodynamic advantage during qualifying.
Smart, had it worked out for him. That race turned out to be an instant classic, with three cars separated by just 0.007 seconds. But Logano came off looking bad, caught trying to sneak an advantage, then got sent to the back to start the race, then crashed late in the race, finishing in a sorry 28th place. A couple days later, his efforts earned him a $10,000 fine.
Logano’s other big moment this season was also a negative. He was involved in a multi-car wreck March 10 at Phoenix. That was caused by John Hunter Nemechek, but Logano was already having a poor race.
There’s plenty of races to go, so Logano’s fortunes could improve. But there’s also a very real chance that he gets pushed aside by his teammate Blaney.
Blaney is the current NASCAR Cup Series champion. Blaney is currently leading this year’s standings. Blaney just captured pole at Bristol. Meanwhile, Logano can’t seem to finish a race clean. And he currently sits well outside the playoff cut.
Team Penske currently sits in first in the owner standings. And both Blaney and Austin Cindric, Logano’s teammates, are handily outperforming him. This could prove a long, tough year.