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Joey Logano is in the Cup Series playoffs by virtue of a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but there is still work to do. The No. 22 team is not where it needs to be, but Logano believes an upcoming test could be a turning point.
There will be a Goodyear test at Texas Motor Speedway on July 11-12. This will follow a trip to Atlanta Motor Speedway, and it will help some teams potentially prepare for the Texas playoff race that kicks off the Round of 12. Logano’s hope, which he expressed on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, is that his team will find something that will help them pursue another championship four appearance.
“Right now, we are behind, and we have to keep fighting for it and learning some things,” Logano said. “That’s why I brought up that Texas test — our season’s going to pivot off of that test.
“That’s going to be the changing moment if we can find something there to make it all happen, right? That’s what happened last year at Homestead. We had a test down there, we figured out some things, we went out and won Vegas. We figured out some mile-and-a-half stuff to where we could be competitive.”
The Homestead Test Followed a DNF
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GettyJoey Logano makes a pit stop at Texas Motor Speedway.
As Logano explained on June 28, everyone in the field has to be “100 percent” to race inside of the top five. He said that they are racing on a razor’s edge, which is hard if you don’t have the overall speed.
This is an issue that plagued some Ford Performance teams during the first year of the Next Gen era. Logano scored wins early at Darlington Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway, but he had some struggles in June and July with four finishes outside of the top 20.
The Homestead-Miami Speedway test that Logano referenced followed the opening round of the playoffs, which he barely moved through after a DNF at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The test took place on September 20-21 as the teams prepared for the start of the Round of 12. The following weekend, Logano finished second at Texas Motor Speedway and gained some crucial points.
Logano finished 27th at Talladega Superspeedway solely because he hung back to avoid the crashes that did not take place, and then he finished 18th at the Charlotte Roval. These were not the finishes he wanted, but he still worked his way through the Round of 12.
The Round of Eight marked the payoff for the knowledge gained during the Homestead test. Logano kicked off the pivotal round by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and punching his ticket to the championship four.
Logano then finished 18th at Homestead, but that ultimately didn’t matter. His team’s focus was on building a top-tier car for Phoenix Raceway, which they used to win the championship for the second time.
Logano’s 2023 Season Has Featured Highs & Lows
Logano entered the 2023 season fresh off his second Cup Series championship, and he quickly put himself back in the playoffs by winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway. However, the weeks since have included some struggles for the No. 22 team.
The Team Penske driver has finished outside of the top 20 five times since the spring race at Atlanta. A 37th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway due to a crash is his worst outing.
There have been some solid outings. Logano posted back-to-back third-place finishes at World Wide Technology Raceway and Sonoma Raceway. He also finished sixth at Kansas Speedway.
As Logano explained during his weekly appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, teams have been racing on the razor’s edge during the Next Gen era. There have been struggles, especially if they don’t have the overall speed.
The test at Texas Motor Speedway could help some teams make crucial gains before the final run to the playoffs. Logano hopes that this is the case as he tries to defend his title.
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