Joey Logano ignores his summer slump, says his team has ‘embraced the pressure’ and will find another gear for playoffs
Joey Logano has to step up his game to defend his championship.
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Joey Logano (Via IMAGO)
Defending Cup champion Joey Logano has pointed out that his team is ready to put the mid-season slump behind their back to go deep in the 2023 Cup playoffs. He is going into the round of 16 with a small cushion but isn’t among the favorites in the list of many in the racing community for the championship four race.
The 2023 season so far hasn’t been the best for Roger Penske’s driver. He failed to secure a second with since the triumph at Atlanta. He has eight finishes inside the top 10 in the last 26 races, and disappointing six finishes were outside the top 30. But Logano and his crew have come out triumphant from similar conditions in 2018 to win his maiden title.
While talking about their struggles and how the team will overcome them, Logano pointed out that the summer slump has always been a thing for them, and they have successfully overcome it many times at the end of the year. He hopes to do the same in 2023. Logano added that compared to its rivals, his team is really good at embracing the pressure and delivering when it matters.
“No, I really feel like this team — and all of Team Penske in general — for years, we’ve kind of had that summer slump, and then it comes to the end of the year, and look out. They find a little something, and so, really hoping that’s the same thing this year. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be,” Logano said, as reported by NASCAR.com.
“Seems like Team Penske, like I said, does a good job of bringing faster cars, but I think the 22 (team) in general does a really good job of handling pressure, and there’s a lot of teams that are out there that don’t handle the pressure the same way and embrace the pressure the way like we do, and I think that’s what gives us a pretty good advantage,” Logano added.
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Joey Logano has an okay feeling about his regular season standings
Logano acknowledged that despite missing out on multiple good point-paying days, the No:22 team is in a good position going into the season finale. He is confident they can shave a smooth ride ahead, considering the team has successfully navigated such conditions before.
“Now, we’ve had some races where we didn’t score many points. That’s why we finished where we did in the regular season, but like I say, it was just a really close battle all the way up to fifth or so in points. So obviously, we’re not going in with as many playoff points as I’d like to have, but (we’ve) also been in the same exact position before and believe we won that one, so I feel OK about it,” Logano said.
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