Three-time and reigning series champion Joey Logano will not be racing for a second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series title this weekend, but the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford remains very much motivated to hoist a trophy here again.
“I told [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe] that [a victory] would be the most bittersweet win of all time. … But wins matter,” Logano said, adding with a smile. “They count, and obviously it would be good for everybody’s Christmas bonus.”
With a win at Texas and two pole positions this season, Logano is ranked eighth in the standings heading into the Phoenix finale—80 points behind Christopher Bell in fifth place, but only seven points behind Tyler Reddick in seventh and 24 back of Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney in sixth.
Having hoisted two of his three championship trophies at Phoenix Raceway and feeling obviously sentimental toward the one-mile desert oval, Logano said he understood and supported NASCAR’s decision to begin rotating the championship race locations.
Next year, the race returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway, which played host to the season finale from 1999 through 2019. The 1.5-mile oval was the site of Logano’s first championship win in 2018.
“I think it’s fine, wherever we go, we’ll just have to figure out how to win,” Logano said of the plan to change venues for the championship. “Obviously, this [Phoenix] has been a great race track for us. I’m not sure that when they first moved the championship race we were super excited about it being here, because we were pretty good at Homestead.
“This wasn’t always our best race track, but the timing of it worked out well as we got good here, and hopefully the next place will be the same way.”
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