After celebrating his second win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Joey Logano received a phone call from car owner Roger Penske. The driver of the No. 22 moved up to ninth in the points standings with the victory.
After being 17th in the standings — one spot below The Chase cutoff — five races ago, the three-time Cup Series champion has made up a ton of ground. With two races remaining until The Chase, Penske wants his driver to go after more.
Roger Penske to Joey Logano: ‘Go for sixth’
During an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Logano recalls Penske giving him a phone call as he was celebrating the Cook Out 400 triumph.
Penske called with a goal in mind for Logano. As far as the Connecticut native has climbed in the standings over the last few races, the champion car owner wants him to go further.
With two races left, Penske wants to see Logano get to sixth position.
“I was in victory lane and my phone dings. It’s Roger Penske. He says, ‘You’re ninth in points, now go for sixth.’ All right, got it. Our goal is 10th. To try to get to 10th, which was a lofty goal to try to get there,” Logano said.
Since the reintroduction of The Chase format, many within the NASCAR industry have spoken about the high likelihood of the champion coming from the top six in the standings.
Yet, with the parity of the Cup Series field, Logano said there are opportunities to make up points.
“The wins help a lot and I feel like, yeah, you can do it from 10th. Obviously, you can do it from sixth. It seems like in today’s world, it’s a little bit different than it used to be. It’s not a given that the fast cars finish top 10 every week. There’s a lot of things that can happen,” Logano said.
On top of that, with the major points boost awarded for the wins, Logano does not rule out that a driver below sixth place can still win the title in The Chase.
“There’s 70-plus points days. It’s ridiculous how big that is. A solid race is 35 points. That’s a pretty solid race where you’ve scored stage points and finished top 10ish. That’s double when you’re able to score 70. That’s two races worth in points,” Logano said.
Logano calls top six seed a ‘lofty goal’ as Chase nears
Entering New Hampshire this Sunday, Logano is 36 points behind sixth position in the points standings, which currently belongs to Chase Elliott.
While the No. 22 team has found a spark in recent weeks, the 36-year-old believes he faces an uphill climb to reach sixth place with just two regular season races remaining.
Still, Logano knows anything is possible.
“It can happen. Again, a lofty goal because we’re not passing easy cars, we’re trying to pass the best cars here. It’s a tough thing to do,” Logano said.
In more than 25,000 simulations of The Chase conducted, NASCAR Racing Insights concluded that there is an 85 percent chance the champion comes from the top six beginning The Chase.
The current top six in the standings is Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, and Chase Elliott.
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