FORD PERFORMANCE NASCAR
NSCS NOTES & QUOTES
Chase Media Day – Chicago
Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016
Joey Logano pilots the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion into the Chase for the third straight year in 2016. Logano spoke with media members in Chicago Friday about his past successes and disappointments in the Chase and what he looks for this time around.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion — WHAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU TODAY? “Actually the funniest and funnest thing we did was the Facebook Live with Brad (Keselowski) and Chris (Buescher). We had a good time storytelling and everyone was watching us which could be good or bad, I don’t know. I feel like I said things that I probably shouldn’t have but it was funny so I had to say it.”
ASSESS YOUR CHANCES GOING INTO THE CHASE. “I feel they are really good. I am excited about it. I have a great attitude going into the Chase this week and for these next 10 races I feel like our team is in a great place. To me this is the most fun part of the season. I love Chase time. It is cool, it is fun, there is a lot on the line. You are racing for a lot out there. There is so much opportunity to do great things. Obviously there is opportunity for others and you think about the way the whole Chase is set up and the way we have to race to Homestead and try to win a championship, it will be a lot of fun and I feel like my team has a great shot at it. We have speed. I feel like we can handle pressure as good as anybody. We are going to raise our game under pressure. We will thrive under pressure. I am ready for it. I am excited. I have been here all day and I want to get to the race track. I am excited.”
IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE SORT OF BEEN THROUGH A LULL. ONCE YOU CLINCH AND KNOW YOU ARE IN AND YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE REAL STUFF STARTS. “Yes and no. For me, if there is a race, I want to win it. If I don’t win it I will be mad. That is there every week. There is just a little more on the line than normal. I wouldn’t call it a lull. I don’t think that is the way to look at it or the way we look at it at all. We think about how we can go out there and win every weekend. Now, wins mean a lot more than what they did a few weeks ago.”
WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE THE FIRST FEW YEARS IN THE CHASE, DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU APPROACH THINGS AT ALL THIS TIME? “We are going to approach it the same. We race to win. That is what the 22 car does. A couple of years ago we had the motto of “Do What You Do”. If that is what we do, we are going to do it. We are aggressive racers. That is what the 22 team has done to be successful, whether that is regular season or during the Chase, so that is what we need to do to be successful.”
IF YOU AND BRAD ARE SIDE BY SIDE GOING ON THE FINAL LAP, DO YOU NUDGE HIM? WHAT DO YOU DO? “I was talking with Krista Voda and she told me to ask Brad a question. Ask him the question that he will get asked today at some point, and it was that exact question. Brad’s answer was that we will have to wait and see and that is why you have to watch. That sounds like a great answer. I don’t know. Hopefully we are in that situation. That would be good. We will race each other. That is what Roger (Penske) pays us to do, to go out there and race for a championship. Hopefully the two of us are doing that. That would be the ultimate. No, we aren’t going to crash each other. If that is the answer you are looking for it isn’t what you are going to get. We would race each other hard. I don’t think it will get dirty for no reason at all. I wouldn’t want to do that to anybody. I want to win the right way.”
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK TO LAST SEASON AND SWEEPING THAT ROUND. CAN YOU PINPOINT WHAT YOU GUYS DID TO GO ON THAT TEAR? “It is confidence. If you don’t believe in yourself no one else will believe in you. When you get that confidence going and momentum going it didn’t matter what track we were at. We were kicking butt at Martinsville after we won a race at Talladega, then Kansas, then Charlotte. They were all different race tracks and we were able to win at all the different ones. What we had going for us was confidence. That is what it is all about. This is a mental game. It is all about what is up in your head. When there is pressure added to you like that it becomes even more important, your mindset, and making sure your head is straight before you even unload on Friday. Like I said, I feel like we are in a good spot for that reason. I don’t see any reason why we can’t get on a tear like that again. I don’t feel like we are far from it. I feel like we can do it.”
HOW DO YOU KEEP OTHER DRIVERS OUT OF YOUR HEAD? “What drivers? I don’t have any in my head. I don’t hear them. I honestly don’t know half the time what is going on. I kind of thrive on that stuff. I like that stuff. It is funny. It is a sport, right? We all try to get in each other’s heads and say and do things. That is part of the game. You see that in all sports. It is just part of the game. Some drivers will try to do that type of stuff and some just focus on the job at hand.”
ARE THERE ANY DRIVERS WHOSE HEAD YOU WANT TO GET IN? “No, I just want to go win.”
HOW DO YOU BALANCE BEING AGGRESSIVE WITH PIT ROAD SPEEDS AND NOT GETTING PENALIZED ON PIT ROAD? “It is a balance that is talked about before we get to the race track. Obviously I would assume everybody has their dashes set, the digital dash, they are all set before we get to the race track. So we kind of know how hard we are going to push there. Then it is up to the driver to push it to that mark. Now, if you want to be more aggressive you are going to add a couple more tenths of a mph or whatever it is but then it is up to the driver how hard you want to push it. Do you want to go a little over that? Having that communication of how hard your team is pushing it and how hard you as a driver are going to push it is key. There is a risk versus reward on that. The reward could possibly be getting the lead and possibly winning the race off pit road. That could be the reward. But the penalty is huge. The penalty, if you get that penalty at the end of the race, it might knock you out of the Chase. You have to be smart when you make those decisions.”
WITH THE ADDITION OF THE TIMING LINES, DO YOU FIND YOURSELF STOPPING YOURSELF FROM DOING WHAT YOU USED TO DO? “It has become more challenging. There used to be wiggle room. If you speed in one part of a section you had room to slow down and give it back before you got to the end. Now you are going through the lines so quick that if you go over it is too late. It has kind of changed the game. It has changed the game of pit stall selection as well. A lot of people used to play the timing line game. Everyone used to play the timing line game on pit road but that window has gotten smaller. You can’t accelerate in and out of your box. You can’t do that anymore. And you can’t pass to the left.”
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE RULE CHANGES NASCAR CAME OUT WITH? “It is a rule that had to be made. In my opinion, if you are in a do or die situation you can hammer down and screw your stuff up and if the penalty is 15 points and $50,000, well then I got the win and I am moving on. You have to do something that takes the next round berth away. Unless we are just going to have the Wild Wild West and have stuff sideways and take the penalty. NASCAR had to do something about it. That was something that was talked about through a lot of the council meetings and everyone came up with a plan for what they felt was acceptable and what they felt was not acceptable and NASCAR has done a good job of laying down that rule.They had to make the rule, for sure.”
