Joey Logano is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and perpetual favorite at any race track he competes on. But the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, who is enduring a very uncharacteristic slow start to the season, is extraordinarily optimistic for Sunday’s Cook Out 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway which stands to be a strong season panacea for the veteran.
His 13 consecutive top-10 finishes at Martinsville is the longest streak among this week’s starting field. He won here in 2018 and has a pair or runner-up finishes in the 14 races since his victory circle visit.
Through six races this season, however, Logano has only a single top-10 – a third place effort in the season-opening Daytona 500. He is coming off a 33rd place finish at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway last week, while his two Penske teammates, Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric both finished among the top five.
“Still a mystery,’’ Logano said of Darlington. “Obviously it was a tough one, but you have those races every now and again. It’s not fun living through them, I can tell you that much, not fun for anybody.
“But you also have to remember the success we’ve all had together too. We still know how to do this, so you have to move on. Learn from it as quickly as possible and you have to close the book and by Monday, Tuesday move on and that’s kind of what we did.’’
With the change in the points format, and season-long points now putting a team in the Chase (Playoffs), Logano said it’s very much time to go and he’s very mindful of the points progression. Not only does he have the streak of top-10 finishes here, but Logano has been running at the finish of the last 34 consecutive Martinsville races – the fourth best effort all time and he’s still going.
“It’s one of those [tracks] that it seems like once you get a hold of it you see the same cast of characters in the top five frequently. You think of Blaney, Chase, us, the 24 [Byron] and the 11 [Hamlin], consistently. It’s a very predictable race from my standpoint. Every now and then you can sprinkle someone else into that mix. But those are the people who are probably going to be pretty strong here.
“For us, it’s a good track to try to rebound, especially after last weekend that was so horrible. We know how to get around here, we know what to do, let’s just see if we can get a little momentum built up going into the off-weekend.”
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