It was another week of disappointment for Team Penske driver Joey Logano. A week removed from losing the Daytona 500 on the last lap, Logano again came up just short of winning on the road course Sunday.
Logano was leading coming to the white flag. But entering the frontstretch chicane, Christopher Bell who had been stalking him for several laps, was able to take the lead.
“You hate being that close, but at the same time I look at where we’ve come from,” Logano said. “We had a really solid race. We were two solid stages, second and third in the stages, a second overall. That’s a great day any way you look at it.”
That great day however came without a win, for the second week in a row.
“Getting passed coming to the white flag stings a lot,” he said. “Congratulations to Christopher, obviously, his first win. That one is very special. The way he did it was very impressive. Just stings a little bit for me at the moment if I’m being honest.”
At least he ended Sunday with a runner up finish. In last Sunday’s Daytona 500 Logano was leading. His teammate Brad Keselowski made a move towards the front, Logano went to block and both of them ended their races in a fiery crash. There were obvious hurt feelings, but Logano said Sunday night that after avoiding each other most of the week he and Keselowski had finally spoken about the incident.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” he said. “We had a good conversation. Everything I’d hoped it would be, very honest and open. I think today we were around each other a bit and raced each other fine. I think everything’s going to be good moving forward. It’s a healthy conversation. Probably glad we waited a few days to cool our jets but ended up being a productive conversation.”
As for his season so far, Logano remains upbeat.
“Any way you look at it, every race we’ve run so far, we’ve been in contention to win,” he said. “I said it to the guys before the race today. Once again, we were in contention to win. We’re doing the right things. Look at the Duel. We almost won. Clash we finished third. Daytona 500 we were leading on the last lap, crash. Then you come here, you’re leading with two to go, get passed.
“We’re there. I think we’re doing a good job. When I think of the execution of this race team, we’re doing all the right things. We just got to get a little bit faster. That’s the biggest thing that I see right now. Not that we’re far off, right? We’re right there in the hunt. But I’d say we’re outperforming the car at this moment. We just got to get our car a little better.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.