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NASCAR CUP SERIES: FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400September 12, 2020Joey LoganoRichmond, Virginia THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by our third‑place finisher, Joey Logano, driver of the No.22 Shell‑Pennzoil Ford for Team Penske. Can you take us through your run and what it was like out there? JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, third place, that's about where we were today. Had a pretty good car and thought early in the race we were a couple adjustments away from being where we needed to be and just seemed like as the track kept going on, I got a little bit tighter, and every time we tried to fix that we got a little bit looser off. It's kind of pick your poison; do you want to be loose off or do you want to half turn. That was the biggest challenge we had tonight, but we did what we had to do; we scored stage points and a couple third places in a row, so we've picked it up during the playoffs. I feel good about that. We've got to keep the ball rolling here. Feel good about where we're at for Bristol, and you can top 3, top 5 all the way to Phoenix if we keep doing this. Want to gets wins, want to playoff points in the bank for sure, but overall we're doing what we've got to do and we'll keep plugging away with our Shell‑Pennzoil Mustang. Q. Is there anything that you or the team noticed from tonight's race that can be applied to the race, the championship race in Phoenix, considering the cars that you all are going to be running are fairly similar? JOEY LOGANO: Yes and no. It's quite a bit different than Phoenix because‑‑ mainly because it attracts surface here, so abrasive and tire wear means so much, so your setups are similar in ways but in other ways not at all. I mean, you learn something every time you go to the racetrack, if that means anything. I don't know how much it's going to help us for Phoenix, but I feel like we got smarter for Richmond. It's not going to mean much for this year, but maybe we've got a couple things that may help us. Q. And your team hasn't quite‑‑ they haven't won a race since before the pandemic. With a run like tonight, does this boost the morale of the team just a little bit to know that you guys are getting a little bit closer to breaking through and finally getting a win again? JOEY LOGANO: Of course. I don't think we're that far off, to be honest with you. Last week we finished third and we fought through plenty of adversity. A few weeks before that we were pretty good. We've been pretty good here recently a clicking off quite a few top 5s, so that's something to be very proud of. They're not wins, I know. We haven't won since the pandemic started, but I also think from where we were six to eight weeks ago to where we are now, I'm very proud of. We've made some big gains and put ourselves in position now to where we're close to winning again. We're running solidly in the top 5, and wins will come along eventually when you keep doing that. Yes, I want to win, but I want to win a championship even more, and right now we've got to take what we can to get there. Q. What's the best piece of advice as a veteran of the sport you can offer to a younger teammate like Ryan Blaney who's on the cusp of the playoff picture right now and has a bit of a dire situation going into Bristol next week? JOEY LOGANO: First off, Blaney has done this long enough and has been in these positions before, so I think you kind of figure out what you need in your own way. Ryan Blaney is a different than Joey Logano and different than Brad Keselowski and different than Chase Elliott and the next guy and the next guy. The same thing that works for me is not going to work for him. We're wired differently. We all are. I think the biggest thing is you dig deep down inside and you figure out what makes you tick, what makes you have a little bit more, what helps your team along and learning your race team and how you can fire them up and make sure you get the right pit stops and the right car for the weekend. You've got to level up. That's what the playoffs are about. It's always about trying to find a little bit more, and what you did during the regular season will never be enough in the playoffs, and as each round and as each race goes, the intensity will pick up and you need that figure that out for yourself. Not that I don't want to help him. I'd help him; I'd tell him what I do, but I'm pretty sure what I do won't work for him. Q. Brad was saying earlier this week that the short tracks and restrictor plates are the best for you guys right now; I don't know if you agree, but is it nice to have a solid performance on a short track? There haven't been that many this year that makes you feel like, okay, we should be good for the other short tracks the rest of the way. JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I feel like if we can get to Phoenix, I feel like we're in a pretty good space. We've just got to get there. But I don't feel like we're that far on 550s anymore. I did feel like we were way off, and now I feel like we're maybe not as good as we are at 750s, but we've made gains, like you said. I'm speaking more on behalf of the 22 than just Team Penske because they've been pretty good. Some other cars have been good 550s. We've been as the 22 a little bit off, but we've made some good gains there, as well. Speaking on behalf of the 22 only, I'd say, yeah, our strengths are still 750s but we're getting closer to where we need to be to win one of those 550s again. Q. Could you talk about, it's been a trying year for everybody, but the Joey Logano Foundation stepped up during the playoffs and donated $22,000 each playoff week for a local organization in North Carolina. I wonder if you could talk about the mindset behind that and what the reaction has been like so far. JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I posted a video on social media this week, and we wanted to continue to do the grants for our foundation. It was such a big year for the foundation with that Million Dollar Fund for the COVID‑19 Response and Relief Fund, and it was really good. But at the same time we didn't want to lose track of what our roots were with the foundation, which is helping children and young adults in times of crisis, and a lot of that is within the foster care community, and organizations that help these kids. I've got it on the mask; it says "believe," and I think that word meant so much to me as a race team, obviously, but when you think of these kids, they just need somebody to believe in them. Think about how many people just put some of these kids to the wayside and don't think about them as much as they need to. For us we didn't want to forget about these organizations this year and what they need more than ever right now, and when I talk to these organizations, their government funding is going away, so you can only imagine some of these situations not only for the organizations but even more importantly the kids. They just need help, and like I said, someone to believe in them. Our foundation will do that, and all our supporters will be that person to hopefully help, and we've got some great supporters for that reason, and we're going to continue to do that $22,000 a week until the end of the year. THE MODERATOR: Joey, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Congratulations on another great finish, and we'll see you at Bristol. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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