Ford Performance NSCS Notes and Quotes
Coca-Cola 600 Advance – Charlotte Motor Speedway
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion, is coming off a victory in last weekend’s Sprint All-Star Race. He’ll be looking to sweep the 10 Days of Thunder at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday when the Coca-Cola 600 takes place. He spoke about his chances after today’s practice session with members of the media.
JOEY LOGANO – No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion – HOW CAN YOU CAPITALIZE ON THE MOMENTUM FROM WINNING THE ALL-STAR RACE AND HOW BIG WOULD IT BE TO WIN THE 600? “That definitely gives us momentum for us and our race team, and the 22 team in particular. Going into last weekend we came off three crashes in a row. That confidence gets killed in those moments. I think our team is a lot stronger than that, but it is nice to break through after three tough weekends and be able to break through and get that first victory of the year. Even though it was the All-Star Race and it didn’t count for points, we really want to win this Coca-Cola 600. It’s been a long time since a Coca-Cola driver has won one of these things, so as a Coke family member I want to make that happen, and I feel like I’ve got a good car so far in practice. We’ve only been in qualifying trim, but there’s not really a whole bunch different from last weekend. I’m really excited about it. I think we’ve got a good piece. I think I’ve got a piece that can possibly compete for the pole later on tonight and we’ll wait and see what happens.”
HOW DO YOU STRIKE A BALANCE OF BEING SUPPORTIVE WITH YOUR TEAMMATE BUT ALSO COMPETITIVE? “Racing our teammate is the hardest thing. The ultimate goal is racing each other for the win. That’s the ultimate goal. In that situation, it’s very hard to understand what is acceptable and what is not. I think Brad and I have a good understanding on what that is. We have a great relationship, a great friendship, and I think we know each other well enough to know what’s acceptable and what is not. A lot of times you’ve got to look at the big picture and a lot of things as well. Sometimes there’s a short-term gain for a long-term loss, so you’ve got to look past the hood pins a little bit in those situations. Not to say we’re not gonna race each other for the win. Of course we’re gonna race each other for the win. I would expect that from him and you’re damn sure right I’m going to do it too. We’re gonna race for a win, for sure, but we’re not gonna crash each other. What is the line? It could be different for each team. Each driver combination could be completely different. Kyle and Carl, whatever happened after that, if that’s acceptable, if it’s not, that’s something that should be discussed behind doors and not have to be out for everybody. But I think everyone has their line in the sand and where that is is sometimes up for negotiations and it can change a lot as the season goes. In our case, we’re gonna race for wins together. We know that. We’ve already finished one-two twice this year, so we’re gonna be in that situation and I feel like we have a good understanding of where that is.”
DO YOU FEEL GIVING THE ALL-STAR WINNER A CHASE BERTH IS A GOOD IDEA, AND WOULD YOU TRADE YOUR MILLION DOLLARS FOR A GUARANTEED SPOT IN THE CHASE RIGHT NOW? “Well, it’s not my million dollars for one. But, two, would I trade it? I’d choose both. Can I do that? That’s my typical answer. I want it all. I don’t know if you need to incentive something more than throwing a million dollars out in front of a driver. That’s enough to make me race. Apparently, it’s enough to make Kyle Larson race and the rest of us out there the other night to race hard. I think that was enough. I don’t know if we need to throw more in it. As the winner of the All-Star Race, of course I’m gonna say I’d rather have some points for it. It would be nice to have both, but it’s the All-Star Race. That’s what it’s all about. It’s supposed to be not for points. It’s not supposed to be for anything else beside a million dollars. That’s all anyone talks about last week and that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about the big check at the end. Nothing else means anything and I don’t see why we need to change that. Maybe you guys have a different opinion, I don’t know. I’ve been out of the loop, so I don’t know. But I thought it was pretty good. I don’t know how many years they’ve had that race, but it seems like everyone has always raced hard in it and had that nothing to lose mentality.”
HOW HAS YOUR CONFIDENCE GROWN HERE? “It’s become one of our best race tracks, for sure. Anytime you go to the race track and the last two races you’ve run you’ve won, that makes you feel good and obviously gives you a lot of confidence going into the race. But this track changes so much. Obviously, we’ve gone through – this will be the third different rules package in the last three races here if you look at what happened here last fall to the All-Star Race to now it’s three different packages from a rules standpoint. Yeah, it takes something different every time, but I think the one thing that’s consistent is that feel inside the race car you need to have and being able to communicate that to your crew chief. Todd really understands what that is and we’re able to talk about that and be able to make sure we have it in our car. That’s the hard part is making sure you have that feel in your car because what worked last week probably isn’t gonna work as well. I mean, you can have a direction on things, but it’s probably gonna take something a little bit different to make the car work this week because I think it’s gonna be a little bit different.”
CAN YOU SPEAK ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NAME THAT’S ON YOUR WINDSHIELD THIS WEEKEND? “I think we need to look at everybody. Everyone’s car has a fallen solider on their windshield. That’s something that I think is a great idea from the NASCAR side and from the teams working with them. There’s no telling what that individual has gone through, but there’s no telling what that family is going through either, and I think this is a great way to honor our soldiers that are out there fighting for our freedom. This weekend is one of the most important weekends for that, and I think the race track also does a great job here every time we race here on Memorial Day Weekend. Before the race, I don’t know what’s going on because usually we’re in the driver’s meeting, but I always hear stuff shooting and things going like helicopters. There’s always something big going on, I know that. I think that service is something that’s very special to be able to say thank you. That’s what this weekend is all about is saying thank you to all our veterans and those currently in the military right now. I don’t think any of us – and maybe some of you have been in the military before, and, if so, thank you – but I don’t think any of us that have not been in it can ever understand. I know I don’t. I try to hear their stories and I can’t fathom them. It just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s amazing how they can do what they do, so it’s only right that we can shake their hand and say thank you or put a name on our race car.”
DO YOU WATCH MONACO OR THE INDY 500 BEFORE THIS RACE, AND DO YOU WISH YOU COULD RACE IN ONE OF THOSE? “I really like the Coca-Cola 600. To be honest with you, I’m so focused in on it that I don’t really watch anything else. I’ll kind of flip through the Indy 500 throughout the day periodically, but not very often. I’m not as focused in on that. I’ve got a race of our own that we have to worry about, but as a Team Penske driver, obviously we have a lot to root for up in Indy at the Indy 500. But what a cool race weekend when you think about the three big races and this being one of our crown jewel events, I believe it is at least. I think it’s just a cool race weekend for a race fan. You can watch three huge races. There’s a lot on the line and it’s pretty fun to be a part of that.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT CHASE ELLIOTT AND HOW HE’S GOING THROUGH THIS ROOKIE YEAR? “His is a lot better than my rookie year. He’s got if figured out so far. Chase has done a great job. He probably had a little bit more experience than I did coming into the Cup Series, but he’s so young and he’s a hard worker. That’s something I appreciate about him is someone coming in who has a great opportunity and has a lot of people behind him supporting him. You can go down the wrong road in a heartbeat and believe you’re larger than life and believe you’re better than everybody. He doesn’t seem to have that attitude, which is pretty cool. That must mean he was raised well. He seems like he works at it really hard and he seems to be a student of the sport. I think that’s pretty cool to see. I went to lunch with him before the season started and he picked my brain for a while. I’m kind of wishing I didn’t tell him much. I’m having to race him already, but it’s cool to see the young guys come into this sport. That’s something that’s fun for me. For the longest time I was the only young guy in this sport and you’re kind of on your own, so it’s kind of neat. I was talking to Kyle Larson after the race last week and I said, ‘It’s fun that the young guys are out there racing for the win like that.’ That’s what it’s all about. It’s kind of fun to see the sport kind of transitioning like that. The guys that have been in it are very tough, and obviously are always up there, but it’s cool to kind of see a new mix coming up a little bit.”
WHAT ABOUT THE NEW RULES PACKAGE. HOW MUCH DIFFERENT WILL THAT BE AT MICHIGAN COMPARED TO THE HIGH DRAG PACKAGE YOU RACED THERE LAST YEAR? “It’s different compared to the high drag package, but directionally correct if you ask me. I think any time we take downforce off the cars we’ve seen it’s a win. I talked in here the other night after we won and, yeah, everyone wants to talk about the format, I want to talk about what was amazing that night, which was the ability to race. We were able to move up the race track and get to the outside of cars and to the bottom and race each other and pass each other. If you looked at a year ago at the All-Star Race, we couldn’t get near each other. Michigan is gonna be that times 10. With that high drag package we all learned not the way to go. That was wrong. We figured that out. We learned our lesson. We’re gonna go back with something 180 degrees the other way, that’s completely different, and we’re gonna be even better than I think the package we have now that we’re racing with the small spoiler we’ve got now. We’re gonna make the hole in the air even smaller and less aero dependent, which, in theory, should make for better racing. I think that will be something exciting to see and be able to get off the throttle at Michigan. There are times where you’re just wide-open and going so fast. From what I hear from the drivers that were up there, I wasn’t there, but from what I hear they’re out of the gas quite a bit. You’re still going really fast at the end of the straightaways. Top speeds are gonna be fast, for sure, but there’s that acceleration and needing to lift and that’s gonna create passing out there.”
WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE INDY CAR DRIVERS AT TEAM PENSKE? “We do quite a few things together as Team Penske teammates. Even though they’re completely different series, the shop is still connected to our shop. The NASCAR shop is connected to the Indy shop, and a lot of the resources are shared. We talk a lot. Obviously, I know Juan pretty well from when he was over here, and been able to build a relationship with Simon and Will and Helio. I don’t know how anyone can’t get along with Helio. There are a lot of interesting personalities because none of them are from here, so trying to figure out what they’re saying with their accents a lot of time is really hard for me to understand what they’re saying. But we have fun. There are a lot of fun personalities to be around and it makes the Indy 500 more enjoyable for me, to be able to watch it, because you have those relationships with those guys and obviously success over there, a lot of times, helps the NASCAR side. We talk about momentum in general and that’s another avenue we can get more momentum.”
