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NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES: CAMPINGWORLD.COM 500 AT TALLADEGA

October 25, 2015

Joey Logano

LINCOLN, ALABAMA

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and continue on with our post‑race availability. We are now joined by race winner Joey Logano.
Joey, you've swept all three races in the Contender Round. Quite an accomplishment for you and the 22 team. Talk about your team's momentum and the win here today.
JOEY LOGANO: We got momentum. That's for sure. This team has been firing on all eight right now. It's amazing all these different types of racetracks we've been able to win at this season, how hard everyone keeps fighting.
We want the big trophy at the end of the year. We want to win every trophy in between, but we want the big one at the end of the season.
What we've shown here this last round is a big deal, but the fact of the matter is we're back to zero again. What we do have going for us that other teams don't have is a lot of confidence, we got momentum and we're relaxed. We've shown that we know how to do it. We just got to keep going out there and do what we know how to do.
THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions.

Q. Can you take us through the only green‑white‑checkered that counted. How concerned were you that Junior could catch you there?
JOEY LOGANO: You know there's going to be some back and forth for sure on what's going to happen. When you're lining up against the best at Superspeedway racing in a very fast car, he proved that throughout the whole day, also proved the 24 was really fast throughout the day as well.
Wanted to have that 24 behind me to push. Felt like he was really good on restarts. Saw that earlier in the race. So I felt like, Okay, that's what I got to do, I got to get around those guys.
I wanted to split them up for one. I thought those two together would be too strong to beat. I thought the top lane was the lane of choice that I felt like we needed to have. Was able to make the run and get out ahead enough before the caution came out.

Q. Joey, after you kind of figured out you had won, Talladega is a place with Earnhardt, this is their Mecca. Fans were throwing stuff. Did you have to steer through some of that? You weren't the villain, but anybody that beats Earnhardt is kind of like a guy that kicks a puppy.
JOEY LOGANO: I was aiming for them. I was thirsty, so I was aiming for them. It's kind of a cool explosion when you hit beer cans. Explode all over the place. Kind of a shame they're throwing their beers full. Feel bad. Should have drank them.
Usually there's one or two, but it was like it was raining out there. Kind of a new thing.
But that's okay. Everyone's passionate about their driver. That's what makes our sport great. I appreciate the passion that our fans have, and I think that's something that's really cool to see about the way people act for their driver.
So, you know, hey, it is what it is. Doesn't hurt my racecar. Our racecars are built strong so they can hit a lot of stuff and keep on rolling.

Q. Roger Penske just said you would have been crazy if you thought anybody could win all three races in a round. Can you give us your thoughts on sweeping this round and the momentum it gives you going forward.
JOEY LOGANO: I didn't think it was possible, I can tell you that much. Come to Chase time, everyone is bringing their A game, everything they got, the best they can, not only with their racecars, but every driver is trying to find that extra little bit.
Seeing what this 22 team has done coming into the Chase, being able to have some very good finishes in the first round, click off three finishes here in the Contender Round, that's a statement. That's what we tried to do.
We were in situations throughout this Chase maybe we didn't have to win, but our job is to win. That's what Roger Penske expects from us. He expects excellence. He expects us to win a lot of races.
I want to produce. We're in a performance business. If there's a trophy, we're supposed to get it. That's our job. Just need to be able to do that.

Q. Do you feel like you could have held off Junior if the caution didn't come out? I was curious if you saw in it of the replays of how the caution did come out with the Harvick wreck?
JOEY LOGANO: I didn't see how the crash started or what happened. I have no clue what's going on. I guess there's been some talk of things. I have no clue. I am out of the loop right now, which is a good thing for a change. It's nice not to be able to know what's going on here (laughter).
I think as far as the last restart, what concerned me racing the 88, obviously he was very fast, like I said. He had a very fast racecar. Could we have held him off? Of course. We did earlier in the race. We were fighting him hard. Would it have been easy? No. It was going to be very challenging.
We were racing against the best Speedway racer that we know, right? He's won a ton of these Speedway races. I look at him as one of the lead Speedway racers.
To race against him for a win was not going to be easy. But to come out with a checkered flag meant a lot.

Q. Mr. Gordon was talking about when you were coming to the green‑white‑checkered that y'all had a conversation about splitting up the Hendrick cars. Take me through that conversation that y'all had, what made you come to that decision.
JOEY LOGANO: Well, I felt like, kind of going off of what I learned earlier in the race, that's what you got to look at. You say, Okay, 24 car, obviously the fastest car on the racetrack. He's proved that throughout the race. Every time he gets shuffled out, he drove all the way back up. Obviously he's a great racecar driver, but he had a fast racecar as well. We saw that in qualifying, as well, how fast his car was.
I know the 88 was fast. Led a lot of laps. I know the 2 has the same thing as me. I thought if those two Hendrick cars team up, it will be very, very hard to beat them. No matter how great Brad and I always work together, it's going to be hard to beat them.
That just goes to show we have a lot of work to do still. We still have to be better. But the strategy of splitting them up and getting the push from the 24, I felt like it was my best bet.

Q. After all the stuff is going on behind you, which I'm sure you're more worried about the 88 beside you, did it come down to when that light came on?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, that's definitely what decided it. I was in front of him the whole time, then the caution light came out, and it's over. We lift. It's a moot point after that, what's going to happen. The cars behind you lift, you lose your pushes. You don't know what was going to happen after that.
I know we had a good start. Being that control car was a big deal. Having the 24 to push me getting up to second, third gear gave us enough of a lead that as he started pulling us back on the inside, he definitely had momentum as he was starting to catch us, probably was going to be in the lead at some point. I don't know if he would have cleared us, but we would have been side‑by‑side off of two most likely.
So it's hard to say what would have happened. But the fact of the matter is they're crashing behind you, right? You have to throw a caution, there's a big crash. We weren't going to go back through there again.

Q. (No microphone.)
JOEY LOGANO: No, he wasn't. Not that I know of. I probably had the best view of anyone. Only the two of us could probably see that the best.
THE MODERATOR: Joey, congratulations. Thanks for joining us.
JOEY LOGANO: Great. Thanks, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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