NASCAR CUP SERIES: CHAMPIONSHIP

November 7, 2024

Joey Logano

Press Conference

An Interview with:

Q. Team Penske, the camaraderie and teamwork, what is that atmosphere having two Penske cars in the Championship 4 this weekend?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, the team itself, they're ready, right? Everyone feels the energy going through the shop. I think being able to lock in in Vegas was helpful to get both cars ready in the way we like to prepare a championship car. Being able to win in Vegas gives you a little bit more time, right? For Blaney it kind of happened last minute. You have to load these things up on Tuesday night, so you don't have that much time to prep and do these type of things.

It's nice we had that as a group, as a team, to be able to prepare a couple cars and be ready when we got out here.

Q. How much does the 22 team, if at all, help the 12 team prepare for a weekend like this?

JOEY LOGANO: Well, I think at this point the teams themselves, I mean, they work together. Now, physically on each other's car, no. We got to take care of our car, they have to take care of their car.

The people at the shop, Team Penske, there's really not any employees at Team Penske that are just 22 team or just 12 or just 2. Everybody works on the cars together, so... Doesn't really change.

Q. How does that data sharing continue going into the weekend?

JOEY LOGANO: It doesn't change. It continues. It continues. We know why we got here, 'cause we worked together, right? Can't stop that. It's worked thus far.

Q. Are there any disadvantages of having multiple cars in? You experienced this in 2020 as well.

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, there's advantages. There maybe a disadvantage possibly. I don't think it is for our team. For some teams it could be, for some of the reasons I just said.

Your practice plan may change a little bit because of it, right? If you were the only car locked in, you can control your teammates to say I want to try this, I want to try that. Now it's kind of, Oh, we got two cars in, what do you guys want to do? We want to do this. You want to do this.

We kind of got to work together a little bit more rather than telling everyone what we want. That part changes a little bit.

Does it affect much? Probably pretty small. It's worth the trade-out for the ability to bring Roger a championship, multiplying our chances by two seems to help.

Q. Does it help Blaney that you got the head start?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, in the ways I just said. Yeah, I mean, it's an advantage to just get the team working that direction already.

While Paul and our engineers have been focused 100% on Phoenix the last two weeks, that allows Hassler to be able to kind of lean on those guys a little bit what we've been studying and working on.

Q. At the beginning of the year, everyone was like, Where is Team Penske? You didn't get a win until Gateway. What do you feel like it says about the team to be the only organization to get multiple cars in?

JOEY LOGANO: Are you surprised? I'm not. I'm not. We've done this before. It kind of seems like our way of doing it.

We want to win more earlier than that. It seems like for whatever the reasons are, just many reasons on why it happens, but we're able to really recover seasons. It's something I'm really proud of because there's a lot of teams that would look at it and say, We're going to call it a rebuilding year. Sports teams call it a rebuilding year. It's an excuse for sucking. We don't do that. We're going to go to work and try to figure out how to be better and salvage the year.

I'd say we did a good job of that getting here, getting two of 'em. That's great. The trophy that's standing behind you guys, that's really what it's about.

Q. (Question regarding short tracks.)

JOEY LOGANO: I'd probably say one step, even before that, would be the tire test at North Wilkesboro. We just don't get any tests anymore these days. You don't get the opportunity to learn that much.

Credit to my team, Paul, our engineers, putting together a great test plan, maximizing the amount of time we were there. We made a ton of laps. We really learned some things that were able to pay dividends throughout the year.

Yeah, I mean, that's where the turning point happened, in my opinion. The result happened obviously before the All-Star Race, which was great, then kind of continued from there.

Q. With the year that you've had, how special would it be to give Penske the three-peat and get yourself to that three-time champions club?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I mean, obviously it would be great. I guess when it comes to individually, I don't think about it that much. I think of it more of a team 'cause I know what a championship is worth to everybody. I think that matters more.

The individual piece of saying you got three of 'em, like that's great, don't get me wrong. I think 'cause I'm still doing it, I guess I don't look at that that much. But I'd like to see the people that I care about at our race team celebrate.

Q. You used to say a lot of mind games played going into this weekend among the competitors. With you being the veteran, do you believe that's maybe silently playing a little bit of a mind game?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, probably. Any sport is a mental thing, right? No matter what you're doing, whether golfing, playing basketball, driving a race car, you got to mentally be there.

I mean, I don't know if there's games played in any way, but definitely you're able to find advantages and disadvantages of your competitors.

Our advantage no doubt is that we've been here, right? We have done this many times, six times. You know how to prepare. You know what to do. You know what's coming up. We know what it means to be able to lock in early, the advantage it gives us two times. We plan on this being our third.

We feel solid about our position. I told everyone we're going to old man them to death. That's our goal. That's our advantage, is that we got the experience over all of 'em. You do something more than once, you get better at it. You do it more than three times, you get better at it.

For us, we've been able to kind of put together a program to where we know how to prepare and we feel comfortable in these scenarios now.

Q. What have the last two weeks been like for you and everybody? Everybody is stressed out and...

JOEY LOGANO: Not my deal (laughter). I don't have to worry about it. My batteries are recharged. Everyone had their tongues hanging out trying to get in.

Q. Looking back on it, how different is this week compared to your first experience in 2014?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, it's completely different. I mean, I remember my first time. To be honest with you, I was crapping my pants, right? How do you not get nervous the first time you're sitting here, got all you guys talking, the thoughts of what a championship could mean for your career, for your team. Will you ever get another chance.

It's something you really want to click off and say you're a NASCAR champion. Just all the stuff goes through your mind. That was all something my first time that really got to me. I don't see how it doesn't. Especially I was younger.

Now you start, like I said, you get comfortable in the scenario, you start to love the pressure, get excited more than nervous. That's a big deal.

Q. You've done this. We can name all the stats. What is your mindset? Do you worry about any of these guys out there? Do you worry about the field? What's going through your head?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, just go out there and race. We know how to do it. We feel like we're the best team, we're the most well-rounded race team. We go out there and show that.

Q. Do you think Penske having the 50% shot at this is kind of a bonus for Roger?

JOEY LOGANO: Obviously, yeah. Got a better chance of winning than anybody else.

Q. What's his mood been like?

JOEY LOGANO: Actually, I haven't spoke a whole bunch here recently. I mean, we speak, don't get me wrong. Obviously he's excited about the opportunity ahead.

Q. Any different in preparation approach from 2020 to this, or is it going to be pretty much the same?

JOEY LOGANO: The structure of it is pretty similar. What you study changes because sports evolve and you have to be able to start looking to the next thing.

You look at a little bit of history, you look at some data, you look at how you get your team prepared, make sure they're ready.

The structure's the same, but maybe the way you do some of it is different.

Q. I'm going to ask you a lighthearted question. Let's say you had a choice to run any other series other than NASCAR, what would it be, like dirt track racing...

JOEY LOGANO: Oh, I can't say I've ever thought about it, to be honest with you. This has been the dream since I was a kid, is to be sitting here talking to you guys, so...

I don't think I've even thought about it. The off-road trucks look fun. I don't know if I want to race them every week, but they look fun. I don't know if my back can handle it.

Q. Did you think the penalty this week fit the crime for (indiscernible)?

JOEY LOGANO: I don't know. I know that NASCAR had to do something just because if you let that go, it will just keep becoming more extreme every time.

They put their foot down. Is it enough? Well, we'll see this week. If they do it again, then you know the penalty wasn't big enough.

Q. I think this is the first time Team Penske has had two cars in the Championship 4. What is different this year with both you and Blaney making it in terms of information sharing compared to when only one of you makes it?

JOEY LOGANO: I said earlier, it's the same. Nothing changes. Cars are prepared right next to each other. Teams are talking to each other when I left of the shop on Tuesday to come out here. Everybody seems to be business as usual. Doesn't really change much from that standpoint.

Q. Do you think it will take a win in the race to win the championship this year?

JOEY LOGANO: It has all but one time, right? What, has it been 10 years we've been doing this? Last year is the first time. So chances are, yeah, you're going to have to win.

Q. The car you guys brought, is it new? Used at Phoenix before?

JOEY LOGANO: No, it's a car that's been used. I don't know exactly where. I don't know exactly where it went, so... They're all fairly similar these days. It's not like there's special cars anymore that people name.

Q. Both as a person and as a driver, what was the roller coaster like getting eliminated, then getting uneliminated? What did you feel like?

JOEY LOGANO: I don't think anything these days surprises me anymore. It's like, Hey, we're back in.

I got the call. I stepped aside for a second, was talking to him. Hey, told my wife, You're not going to believe this, we're back in.

Seven days later, you're not going to believe this, We're all the way in. We're in the Championship 4.

We'll continue the story on Sunday.

Q. Did you have an internal dialogue in those last laps of the race when you were about to get eliminated? Were you like, This is it, it's over?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, probably a few drivers that can understand it. Not many people that can understand it. You can see it happening. A caution, you need something different to happen. What's happening is not going to be good enough.

I know the scenario that we were in. They told me the information. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like... You're just hoping, right? You don't ever give up hope. Once you see the white flag, if a caution comes out, it's over. No, not going to be an opportunity to do anything crazy or different to make it happen.

Apparently, yeah. Fat lady wasn't singing yet (laughter).

Q. How much will experience give you a leg up? You have the most wins here. You've won more championships than your opponents. How much of a value do you put on that?

JOEY LOGANO: A lot. There's so much value in experience. You come here, you feel solid, right? You feel ready.

Like I said, early in my career, there's no way you can feel ready the first time you come to the Championship 4 because you don't know what's coming. For myself, I'll speak personally, I did not feel ready. After the race I learned a lot and felt more prepared the next times.

The first one was, like, you don't even know what's coming your way. The stress, the pressure, all that stuff. It either makes you stronger or it makes you crack, right? One way or the other, something's going to happen, so...

Yeah, everybody's different on how they handle that and the ways they do it.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOEY LOGANO: We'll see on Sunday. I mean, I don't really know, right? We'll see what happens.

Q. Do you think NASCAR looks favorably on Fords compared to Chevy and Toyota?

JOEY LOGANO: Now we're getting into some conspiracy theories on that one. I don't know if that's quite the case.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOEY LOGANO: I'm just saying, yeah, it's kind of hard to say, right? The beneficiaries of it are still in, so... Nothing happened. You tell me if it was good or not, right? Did it work or did it not? Was it worth it?

I don't know. I'm not NASCAR. I'm not the person that can make the call on that stuff. Just driving a car. You just hope that everyone races fairly.

Q. How important is integrity to a sport?

JOEY LOGANO: Well, it's everything, right? I mean, you see plenty of documentaries on how sports and people have kind of done things in the wrong way, how it can destroy a sport.

NASCAR is backed up against the wall to where they had to do something, right? They have to do something to control us. It's everybody, right? Whatever the rule is, whether it's this 100% rule or it's putting the cars together, if the rules aren't enforced, the sport will fall apart. It's important to keep that.

Q. You see the importance of manufacturers, especially after Martinsville. When you started this series, compare the manufacturers' importance, whether it's financially or influence, to where you are now a decade into the series?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I mean, in some ways it's grown and in some ways not. But I think the Next Gen car itself has kind of made the manufacturer matter a lot more because there's only certain things that we can control, right? The car is the car.

The body becomes important. That's one thing that the OEM can control. The engine. There's your other one, right? Those are two big speeding ops.

The teams, they have the ability to tune and make a car better than others. There's times where we've seen it, right, what happened earlier this year, the Fords were off, all of them. You tell me all the teams were off? No. The OEM matters. We've been able to turn that around all together, which is great.

Q. In your first two championships, you went on to win the title after winning the Round of 8 opener. You did that again this year. How important is it having those extra two weeks to prepare? How does it differ from times that you got in at the last race?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, it just gives you more time, right? Give this team time, we become pretty dangerous pretty quickly. I think that's our advantage coming into this weekend, is that we've had two weeks while everyone else has had their tongues hanging out trying to make it. We've been going through things methodically, got our batteries recharged and are ready to go.

Q. Elite company with three titles. Only four drivers have more than that. Obviously everyone wants to win it, but what would it mean to you personally to have three and lead all drivers currently in the series?

JOEY LOGANO: I'm going to say it's a great accomplishment to try to reach. I think, honestly, more about the people. As I've gotten older, I care more about others than I do myself a lot of times. I care a lot about the people that work on our race cars, giving them the opportunity to celebrate would mean the most.

Maybe later on down the road, you can look back at the stats and think that's cool. Knowing the impact of a championship makes you think about the people a lot more.

Q. What would winning mean to Roger?

JOEY LOGANO: You'd have to ask Roger. I think it would mean a lot. I'd like to think so. He seems to care a lot about racing and he seems to care a lot about winning, as well. That's why I race there, is 'cause he wants to win.

I'm sure it would mean a great deal.

Q. What does your prep for a track look like? Do you have a favorite type of preparation?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, we're not big sim people as a team. We're old school. We do things in a little different way than some from that standpoint.

We go back and, yeah, obviously a lot of SMTs, a lot of communication between all of us sitting in a room, hashing it out.

Q. What do you make notes about?

JOEY LOGANO: What do we make notes about?

Q. Yes.

JOEY LOGANO: Depends on which part of the race you're studying, right? Are you studying about strategy? Are you studying about restarts? Are you studying about speed? Are you studying your competitors? Are you studying yourself? I mean, all that, right? You're looking at it all. Lines, all that type of stuff, it all comes up as you look at that. There's film. All of it, right? Just depends on what you're focused on on the day.

Q. You touched on how much you've learned over your past championship runs. What would you say is the most important thing you've learned about yourself this season?

JOEY LOGANO: This season? Oh, I don't know. This season, I don't know if I learned much. Yeah, I usually learn something post and I say, Dang it (laughter).

I'd say I feel way more prepared than I have before, which is a great feeling. I felt really prepared in '22, as well. I think Paul really helped me with that.

Yeah, I don't think there's really much different than what happened in '22. Me as a driver, as a person, it seems like we're just pressing the repeat button and go again.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOEY LOGANO: Winning the races that matter.

Q. Why do you feel you're more prepared this time around?

JOEY LOGANO: From '22 and this time, I feel both of them feel pretty ready. I think honestly it's Paul. I think Paul's leadership has grown for one piece of it. He's just a detail guy. We're all doing it together. That's what the two weeks gives us the ability to do, is to do it together. Whereas these other teams that are sitting up here, they don't have the opportunity to do it together 'cause they have to come out here and talk to you guys, right?

We've had the opportunity to really dig through together, whereas not just the crew chief that knows, the engineers that know something, the driver is left in the dark because they weren't available to be in the meetings.

We got to do that. There shouldn't be a surprise that comes up to any of us because we've run through a lot of scenarios at this point. A lot of different things.

I feel like, no matter what happens tomorrow or on Saturday for qualifying, this team's not going to be out of it 'cause we're going to be ready for whatever comes our way.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOEY LOGANO: Doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt at all. That's a lot of what we talked about, yep.

Q. What has it been like for you the last two weeks? The attention always goes to the team has two weeks to prepare. What have you done for two weeks on your side of things?

JOEY LOGANO: There's a few things that you get to do, right? I mean, one, you focus 100% on one track. If you only have a certain amount of time in the day to where you can do something. Everyone else has to delegate that time to really every other track besides Phoenix because you have to get here first.

We didn't even care about the races that they were talking about, like they're working on. We're already on to the next one. So when I say 'we', like a lot of it, we did it together. Personally, I just watched a lot of Phoenix stuff from the past. Went through a lot of different notes and a lot of different things.

Just making sure you look at everything, just being detail-oriented, more than normal. I usually look at a lot of stuff, but definitely a lot more in this scenario.

Q. Have you given yourself an opportunity of what it would be like to be a three-time Cup Series champion? Rarefied air we're talking about.

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I mean, it would be great. I said it earlier. I think as you do this longer, you start to think about the people that help you get here. You become a little less selfish, I believe, when it comes to what a championship means.

I think it matters so much to everybody else that's working on the team, too. Having three would be great. But seeing everyone celebrate is even better to me, right? Seeing everybody just as excited for their families, that to me matters more than stacking up the stats. So just want to see them do that.

Now, the stats come along with it. It's hand-in-hand. Definitely would like to see everybody celebrate together. Everyone puts a lot of work into this. Everybody's team up here will. It will mean a lot to them. I don't know them, so I don't care about 'em (laughter).

Q. For what Roger has meant to you, to your career.

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, yeah. I mean, it would obviously mean a lot. You think of Team Penske and motorsports, the stats that are there, it's remarkable, right? There's no other American racing team that can say they can stack up close to it, all the different forms of motorsports.

Special to be driving for him. Yeah, anytime you can deliver him a championship, it's neat to be part of the list. The list is pretty cool when you read the names.

Q. How do you get to lap 312? Do you have to be aggressive right off the bat or run your own race and put yourself where you need to be?

JOEY LOGANO: There's a lot of different things that can happen throughout the event. Hard to say exactly how we do it. But there's a plan for whatever moment comes up.

Q. You said last year after not winning the championship, you feel pressure to win. If you don't win, it pisses you off. What has the last 18 weeks been like for you?

JOEY LOGANO: The last 18 weeks about what?

Q. Of the season. How has it been walking into the shop knowing that you're delivering on that pressure.

JOEY LOGANO: Oh, I mean, been there for 13 years now. Feel like I kind of know the system pretty well. Feel like you're part of the family at this point.

It's great to see everybody win. That's good, right? You want to be part of the solution when it's not good, try to figure it out together as a team.

Yeah, I mean, when you feel like you're part of it, eventually it doesn't matter. You don't need a pat on the back anymore. You just got to go out there and do it. We all do it together.

Q. 21 years ago I interviewed you as a 13-year-old coming into Madison International Speedway.

JOEY LOGANO: We wired the brake fans wrong that day. The brake fans were blowing instead of sucking.

Q. Is that what happened?

JOEY LOGANO: Yes. We overheated the brakes. I remember that (laughter).

Q. Your career has been remarkable ever since that time.

JOEY LOGANO: Thank you.

Q. 21 years and here you are sitting on the cusp of your third championship. Who would have ever thought.

JOEY LOGANO: I don't know. I don't know. I mean, to me, if you asked me back then when I was racing in Madison as a 14-year-old or whatever I was, 13-year-old, yeah, I expected it. But I was a 13-year-old that had big dreams, right?

Q. Your voice hadn't changed yet.

JOEY LOGANO: My voice (laughter). Has it changed a little bit more now? It cracks every now and then.

Q. What is your biggest takeaway of the season? Is it you flipping the page for Ford after a slow start to the season?

JOEY LOGANO: Sure. I haven't really thought about that. I mean, the biggest moment of the season, I kind of got to look at probably going back to North Wilkesboro, kind of seemed like a turning point to where we seemed to find some speed and be able to deliver a little bit more consistently in the speed department. That was probably that time of the year where things were starting to look better.

Q. What is this experience like for your son? I'm guessing he has an understanding more of what you're going through than a couple years ago. What is it like seeing this championship opportunity in his eyes?

JOEY LOGANO: You know, it's funny, we were talking about it when we landed last night. We were driving into the track. I asked him, he's in the backseat, Do you remember a couple years ago when we won? You went up and got the flag.

He's like, Yeah, I remember that.

You rode in the car with me.

Yeah.

Do you want to ride in the car again?

Yeah, but this time I want J-Mo and Emilia to ride with me.

Okay, yeah, it's cool.

He knows it's a big deal to make it this far. I don't know if, like, he completely can grasp it all 'cause he's six. His perspective on life is, like, way off compared to what an adult is, right? Yeah, my dad drives a race car. Big deal. It's just normal to him. He lives a different life than most kids because dad does a unique job.

I think that's kind of an interesting thing for him. It's hard to look in his eyes. I think for me personally just celebrating with him means the most. He's been there for the other two, so... He definitely doesn't remember the first one, that's for sure. He's got a picture of it, but that's it.

Q. What does it mean having him get the checkered flag as a father?

JOEY LOGANO: At the time, it was just fun, right? Like now looking back at it, it's a tear-jerker when I watch that, see the pictures together. That's the ones that mean the most. Family is really what matters at the end of the day, right? This stuff is great, but what do you got when you're done, right?

I hate to say it, when you're done, but the sport is going to go on without me. No one's going to care. I'll be forgotten really quick. It just happens. It's happened to even the greats, right? Like the guys that have won five championships, four championships, whatever, the sport's going to go on without you. It doesn't matter. All you have is your people at the end of the day.

That's just over years what matters the most to me.

Q. How do you balance this week of your normal parenting, wild household that's part of life, the prep thing you're trying to do to get focused on a huge weekend in your career?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I sat 'em all down and told 'em dad is not going to be around much week. Dad has to focus in a lot.

Q. Do they understand?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, they do. Well, my wife does, and that's what matters the most (laughter). My wife... It's a lot on everybody, not just me, but even Paul's family, our engineers' families. It's just a lot more.

You can't run at this pace for 36 weekends. You can't. It's impossible. So I told them, I said, Dad's going to be in a different place a lot of the times. Even when dad's here, he may be in a different place thinking about some other things.

They understand what it is. Dad will be back Monday I told 'em (laughter).

Q. (No microphone.)

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, we'll be there. We'll just be hanging. I'll probably be looking at some stuff, probably digging through our last practice stuff. At that point it will probably be strategy stuff, making sure we're ready on that.

I mean, I'll probably take a minute to go for a walk with them. I've done that every time we've been in the Championship 4, just a moment at night when the calm is at the track, everyone is kind of gone. Usually go down and walk pit road with them, let them collect lug nuts after the Xfinity race. They like doing that. I'll probably end up doing something like that, most likely.