It is that time of the year — the time when Joey Logano reminds the NASCAR community who he is. The playoffs’ opening race at Darlington’s Cookout Southern 500 proved challenging, with the 2024 champion finishing 20th after struggling with car handling and tricky track conditions. He bounced back at World Wide Technology Raceway, claiming a strong fifth-place finish and gaining a crucial 21-point cushion over the playoff cutline. The final race of the round at Bristol Motor Speedway saw Logano navigate 14 cautions and intense competition to finish 5th once again. Logano’s graph shows an upward trend, but the important question is, will Joey Logano be able to defend his title this year amid intense pressure?
Just this past weekend in New Hampshire, Logano owned the spotlight despite Ryan Blaney winning the race. The No. 22 started from pole and dominated 147 laps, his most led in a race since the 2022 season finale at Phoenix Raceway. He also captured Stage 2 before crossing the finish line in fourth place. Even more striking was the point swing. Entering the race with just two points below the Round of 8 cut-off, he left 24 points above it, giving him a comfortable cushion heading into Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Roval. Add in three straight top-five finishes, and his playoff momentum couldn’t look stronger. This definitely hikes up the debate about his championship hopes, and Logano has doubled down on it.
Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR radio, the 35-year-old driver sounded confident: “The goal is the, you know, obviously, when it matters the most and right now is when it matters the most is the most on the line that the championships always the number one goal and no matter where you start the playoff. As long as you’re still in it, you got a chance, and we’ve proven that in the past, so we just got to stay alive, right, just continue to move on, and weekends like last weekend sure helps that a lot.”
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Logano is a different beast in the playoffs altogether. Just look at his 2024 season, culminating in a dramatic championship victory. After initially being eliminated in the second playoff round, he capitalized on a second chance following Alex Bowman’s disqualification. He clinched the Round of 8 opener in Las Vegas and secured his spot in the Phoenix finale. In the championship race, the No. 22 driver led 107 laps and narrowly defeated teammate Ryan Blaney by 0.330 seconds, marking Team Penske’s first 1-2 finish in a championship race.
This victory added a third Cup Series title to his career, solidifying his reputation as a formidable contender in the postseason. And this year, Ryan Blaney, fresh off his win at Loudon, has even come to the defense of Logano’s championship chances. He said, “It’s not a big surprise to me anymore. I’ve been teammates with Joey for long enough that I know and how good he is and how kind of methodical he goes about things,” highlighting the calculated mindset that drives Logano’s success.
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The three-time Cup Series champion knows what is at stake, as he said, ” You know when you come in behind the eight ball a little bit from a playoff point standpoint, you don’t have more, so you can’t make mistakes, you can’t screw up. But you still have a chance. And we’ve taken that still have a chance mentality pretty far a few times, so you know, kind of the same thing day once again hopefully.”
If anything, his performance should speak for itself in the 2025 Cup Series season. Competing in 30 races, he secured one win, two pole positions, and six top-five finishes with 10 top-10 finishes. Further, he boasts an average starting position of 12.9 with an average finish of 15.9 while leading 541 laps.
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Despite a challenging season with three DNFs, including a notable incident at Talladega Superspeedway, he maintained a strong presence in the standings, finishing sixth, just 25 points behind the leader. And now, amid Kevin Harvick’s revelation of Logano’s secret to dominating the playoffs, Joey Logano is focused on a larger issue at hand.
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Joey Logano reveals the hard truth for New England NASCAR hopefuls
For over three decades, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has stood as a beacon of New England’s motorsport passion, yet Joey Logano’s recent reflections shine a light on the uphill climb facing drivers from the region who dream of the NASCAR top tier. Despite a rich local heritage and enthusiastic crowds, inspiring New England racers often confront barriers that appear for more established racing hubs rarely face, underscoring the challenges of breaking into the sport’s highest ranks.
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And Logano shared a candid perspective on the realities for regional talent. While his own road crew comprises 5 out of seven or eight members from New England, he noted that chasing a career in NASCAR usually requires relocating. Sanding off the troubles, he said, “I think all of us, when we come up here, we really want to perform because it’s home. You’re representing New England, to your point, if it may be harder for people to make it in NASCAR. I mean, most of the time, you’ve got to move to Charlotte, no matter where you’re from…if you want to do it right, because that’s where all the race teams are… So, yeah, you have to move and that makes it tough, but when you come home, you want to be able to show what you can do, so you feel like you’re representing everyone up here.”
Even with these hurdles, New England’s legacy in NASCAR remains strong. States like Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have produced celebrated drivers and professionals from Mike Stefanik to Andy Santerre, Pete Hamilton, and Joey Logano himself. For aspiring racers, the path is challenging, but the pull of representing their roots drives every lap, whether at their home track or far from it. The story of New England in NASCAR is one of grit, pride, and persistence, where geography may dictate the journey, but passion fuels the pursuit.