“What an incredible turn of events here the last week,” Joey Logano exclaimed after claiming the South Point 400 trophy last Sunday. Despite a quiet regular season, the Team Penske driver strategically struck at the right moments—winning at Nashville, the playoff opener in Atlanta, and now the Round of 8 race. With only four top-five finishes before the playoffs, Logano’s timely wins now give him a strong edge over his rivals.

With only two races left to decide who competes in Phoenix, the Cup garage is in a tumultuous uproar. The four drivers below the cutline are especially worried as they fumble through their notes and data to make it through. Comparatively, Joey Logano can take it easy and focus only on the Bill France Cup.

Joey Logano is on a pedestal now

The No. 22 Ford driver chose ‘working’ as the phrase for his team’s 2024 championship bid. Not particularly appealing, but it carries the letters w-i-n in it, as Joey Logano said, “We’re working toward winning.”

Indeed, teamwork went a long way in allowing Logano to topple Christopher Bell’s dominance of 155 laps in Las Vegas. The crew chief, engineer, gasman, and everybody else put the fuel mileage strategy into place, and Logano executed it. All this effort was just to gain that edge of advantage over his competitors. Having clinched a berth in the Championship 4 race, Logano can breathe easy for two weeks.

In a recent interview with Sirius XM NASCAR, Joey Logano focused on his team’s success. He said, “It definitely gives us an advantage, no doubt. We went from the underdog going into the Round of 8, by the stats, in my opinion. And after winning the first race of the round of 8, you become the favorite of winning the championship just like that. Just because you have these two weeks to focus, right?” But his rivals are in deep trouble: Denny Hamlin sits 27 points out, while Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott is 53 points out and the last playoff driver on the grid.

So Joey Logano also went on to compare his vantage point with the delectable condition of his rivals. “Right now, the other three teams are all in, building their cars, going through data, doing everything they can for the next two races – Miami and Martinsville. And for us, we had a talk yesterday…how we’re gonna start preparing (for the championship).”

He explained further, “When you know it’s coming, you need to get it all organized but when you get out there it’s a distraction…The car’s gotta be on the road Tuesday to get out to Phoenix in time. It just doesn’t give the teams enough time to prepare as we do.” Brad Keselowski’s spotter, TJ Majors, had aptly warned teams about Logano’s threat before Las Vegas.

Besides more time to prepare, the Team Penske driver also has mental strength. Joey Logano has weathered many storms in his career, so he is not afraid to face what is next.

Logano holds no expectations

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True experience comes from struggles and hardships. And Joey Logano had no dearth of them in his career. He started out with a bang in NASCAR, becoming the youngest Cup Series winner after he won at Kentucky Speedway in 2008 at 18. Except for the 2009 New Hampshire race win, Logano remained winless while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing for four years.

In 2013, Matt Kenseth replaced him at JGR, leaving Logano to wonder if his racing pursuit had ground to a halt at 22. However, a new door opened when Brad Keselowski urged car owner Roger Penske to sign Logano. The latter has been with Team Penske since 2013, winning two championships and 35 wins.

So as far as expectations go, Joey Logano is calm—he is prepared to face both ends of the spectrum. He compared his JGR misfortune with the initial bad stretch this year. “You got to roll with the punches. It’s so simple, but you’ve just got to keep going. Don’t get me wrong. I ride the waves. When it’s down, I’m down. There’s no doubt, but the get-back-up attitude is the most important thing to have, and I guess that’s what I would probably tell that kid just get back up and try again…You can look at it from either years ago when I got fired from Gibbs and had the opportunity (at Penske). You can look at that for this year and say just keep going. If you look at the first 10-15 races of the season, it’s like ‘oof, not good,’ but you keep going and you keep getting back up.”

Evidently, the playoff drivers have a formidable rival in the 2024 championship bid. Joey Logano is rolling up his sleeves, and he does not intend to relax until he has a trophy in his hands.