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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Joey Logano is more than ready to put the disappointment of last year behind and start anew beginning with Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Logano’s encumbered win at Richmond Raceway last April kept him out of the playoffs. The Team Penske driver did not find Victory Lane the rest of the season and missed an opportunity to run for the championship.
But with the dawn of a new season just ahead with Sunday’s 60th running of “The Great American Race,” to Logano, 2017 is ancient history.
“Last year was more of a struggle than any of us expected,” he said. “Toward the end of the year, we started to make some speed back in our racecar. We started to run well and had a good run at Miami, Texas and those places. That was encouraging.”
That encouragement continued last Sunday when Logano followed teammate Brad Keselowski across the finish line to give Penske a one-two finish in the Advance Auto Parts Clash.
“To get down here, have a good run in the Clash and have all three Penske cars up front was fun,” Logano said. “Making sure one of us at least won it – I was hoping it was me – but to have a one-two finish for Team Penske was great.”
Logano also had a strong showing in his Thursday can-am Duel race, where he led 56 of 63 laps but finished second.
There’s a school of thought to some the Ford camp will be behind both Toyota and Chevrolet this year in terms of speed and performance. With a new body style not due until next year, Ford is not on the same plane as Toyota’s Camry or Chevy’s Camaro ZL1 in terms of a most recent model.
However at least on superspeedway and restrictor plate tracks, performance does not appear to be an issue for Ford.
“I hope so,” Logano said. “We do try to work together as much as we can, especially at these superspeedways. The Ford drivers are all on the same program. We get it that we need to work together to win. We get that. We all want to win. We all want to be the one hosting the trophy at the end but if we don’t work together, none of us will.
“It is really good that the drivers work together, the teams work together, the crew chiefs work together. That has been a big positive for us at these racetracks, especially with the segments and stage racing now. It is good to have that alliance out there.”
Logano isn’t planning to stop being competitive after the series leaves Daytona and the rest of the season picks up at Atlanta. The way he sees it, 2017 was a blip on the radar and the No. 22 team will return to form this season.
“For us as a race team, ever since I have been at Team Penske, all but last year we have been in the playoffs, won multiple races and put ourselves in position to win championships multiple times,” he said. “Three years in a row really, up to last year. Does anything really need to be changed? Maybe the way we look at things and move forward as a team. Do we need to change the team up? No, I don’t’ think so.
“We are still a competitive race team that is capable of winning multiple championships. We just have to get back to that. We are on that road right now. We are getting closer and closer back to where we were.”
