After the end of the race at Charlotte Roval finishing P8, Joey Logano had accepted his fate of crashing out of the playoffs. After being caught up in the biggest big one at Talladega, Roval’s brutal corners seemed to have ended Logano’s title dreams. Until he had a lifeline after Alex Bowman and the #48 team were disqualified after failing to pass post-race inspection.

It was a whirlwind of emotions for the Penske star, who was still running for the championship. So what’s next for the #22 team? A majority of folks are already rallying behind the likes of Kyle Larson or Christopher Bell as real contenders. Where does Logano stand in the pecking order? Let’s just say he’s not among the favorites, but this is exactly the place the Penske driver feels comfortable in.

Joey Logano doesn’t mind the underdog tag

From a statistical standpoint, it is indeed hard to back Logano to be crowned as the champion. Apart from his two victories this season, the #22 team hasn’t been the class of the field with their sheer speed or consistency. In fact, after his win at Atlanta, which marked the start of the playoffs, his P9 finish was his first top-10 result after that.

So he isn’t exactly rolling in with a lot of momentum like the other top teams are. For context, he is placed at the bottom of the barrel in the playoff standings. Moreover, he is at a deficit of 11 points, which can increase or decrease drastically with just one race. But this doesn’t concern the 2-time champion, as he feels he will be going unhinged and riding high on his underdog tag.

“In a way, I feel like we have nothing to lose. As the underdog, that’s a lot of times you’re feeling, right? Where you’re just like, what do we got to lose? Let’s just go. My mindset is always to you know how do we get to the next round. How do we get into Championship 4? We’re just one step closer than we were before. So I don’t know if it really changes a whole bunch.” Logano said this to SiriusXM NASCAR.

As a matter of fact, Joey Logano has always been up against the favorites, even when he won championships back in 2018 and 2022. And on the occasions he was counted out, he prevailed against all odds. Another factor that he feels works in his favor is that the regular season run doesn’t matter now at this stage of the season. And he is confident about turning the tides in upcoming races.

“No, more times than not I’ve been the underdog. I feel like, right? I mean, look at 2018 when we won our first championship; it was the big three and me. Now I feel pretty confident that we have good speed, we have capable speed of winning at any racetrack right now. So I say we’re the underdogs because that’s what we are from a stat standpoint.” the Penske star added.

Big talks and bold predictions are some of the mental tactics drivers use to unsettle their opponents during this time of the year. But is Logano really in good shape to book his ticket to the Championship 4 race? Let’s find out.

Logano’s past performances at upcoming racetracks

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Starting with Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the mile-and-a-half track has been a hit or miss for him in the Gen-7 car. The big result he had was a win that came back in 2022, during his championship-winning year. So, if he wants to script a similar sort of run, he will need a solid start; apart from that, he only has a single top 10 result in the rest four starts.

Next up is the Miami Homestead Speedway. You’d have to go back to 2018 when Logano last won at this racetrack. After that run, he struggled to find consistent results. In the last four appearances, he does have a P5 and P8 finish to his name. However, he also has two races where he didn’t even manage a top 20 result. So, Homestead isn’t exactly Joey Logano’s stomping ground.

However, the 0.526-mile short track oval of Martinsville is where Logano can truly flex his muscles. For some, this track has proven to be a tough nut to crack, but the #22 team has found their secret sauce in churning out consistent performance. In the Next Gen era, the #22 Ford Mustang has finished consistently at P6 or better. In fact, he has the best average finish at Martinsville in the last 7 races, so all he needs to do is convert this good run into a win.

Given that the Penske star still has three more races to make the championship on tracks that are suited for good racing, he has all the right to be optimistic. And no, it won’t be a surprise if he manages to reach the Championship 4 race in Phoenix.