Joey Logano’s title defense campaign gets a massive boost with the monstrous Martinsville run
Joey Logano, on the back of an impressive pit call, scored P2 at Martinsville starting back of the grid.
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Joey Logano
Any doubts fans had about Joey Logano potentially struggling to give a proper title defense in 2023 after the impressive 2022 might be a thing of the past after Martinsville. Logano, who has already secured a playoff berth, started the race at the back after unapproved adjustments to the car and secured a P2 finish behind eventual winner Kyle Larson.
He shouldn’t have been finishing at P2 if not for the pit strategy from the No:22 team. Paul Wolfe, Joey Logano’s crew chief, made a surprising decision to keep the Penske Ford on the track when the caution was called with just 58 laps to go while the majority of the leaders pitted. He was able to remain in the lead till there were 30 laps left. Larson, who was on two new tires, caught up with him and took the lead.
Logano, till the critical pit call, didn’t deserve to finish in the top 10. The traffic was too much for the veteran that he was struggling to even keep himself in the Top 20. Missing out on the win doesn’t disappoint anyone on the No:22 garage, as they were not even looked at as a possible finish after the average running position of P21 he had the whole day.
Logano sits P7 in the championship table with 258 points, 44 behind leader Christopher Bell. He so far has scored two top 5s, excluding his win at Atlanta, alongside two top 10s. His worst season finishes were P36 and P37 in Vegas and Bristol, respectively. He has been the most consistent Ford driver this season.
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Joey Logano is elated after Martinsville P2
Logano pointed out that he had very little chance of winning against Larson as he was on two strategies. He said that he is proud of the team for winning after the awful start. Logano added that his crew chief did a solid job in ensuring him an opportunity to fight for the win at the end. He understands that P2 was the best result he could hope for on the day.
“I knew the only way he was going to get by me was he was going to have to get physical. I had to make the car wide. I had very little chance of winning it when he had the two tires. He just got through traffic too quickly for us, but overall, it still was the right call to get us on the front row. You never know — you have a caution at the end, and some things can happen, but overall, I’m very proud of the Verizon Mustang team,” Logano said.
“We were not good. We went down a lap two times throughout the race and got one lucky dog and one lucky caution and then just some good strategy from Paul and getting the car better. We were awful to start, and he did a good job of getting me competitive at least and putting me in position to do something there at the end. There are days when you’re mad about a second. Most of the time, you are, but on days like today, you’re pretty happy to see the front at the end,” Logano added.
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Justin P Joy
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