Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS)
Friday, October 4, 2019
Drydene 400 | MEDIA AVAILABILITY
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang
THE CHEVROLET TEAMS HAVE MORE CLOSELY WORKED TOGETHER AT TALLADEGA. GOING THERE NEXT WEEK, HOW HAS THAT CHANGED THINGS? “It affects everybody. I have said this before about super speedway racing. It always evolves. You don’t have to change the rules of the cars to watch superspeedway racing evolve. The teams and drivers figure out new ways to gain an advantage on someone. Whether it is this rules package or last year or 10-years ago, drivers and teams are going to figure out ways to become stronger. What we have seen here recently is the manufacturers finding a way to become selfless within each other to be able to gain an advantage among the competition and control the race. I feel like Chevy has kind of taken that to the next level recently to where we all have to figure out a way to beat that. They did a very good job at the first few superspeedway races here this year and have controlled the race on us. We need to figure out a way to take them down again, which we know we can do with the speed in our Ford cars to be able to do that. We all have to be on the same page together. A lot of times it is easier said than done. We all still want to win and be competitors. The facts are, as much as everyone works together there is only one winner at the end of the day. You don’t get the same amount of points if you finish fifth that you do if you finish first. Those are the things all the teams have to work through to try to figure out how to be okay with that. That is where personalities and the human element becomes a big player in that.”
LOOKING AT THE THREE-RACE GROUPINGS OF THE PLAYOFFS, WHEN YOU COME INTO THE NEXT ROUND, IS THERE SOMETHING WHERE THE ENERGY AND ANXIETY PICKS UP OR IS IT JUST CONTINUALLY PICKING UP OVER THE 10 RACES? “If you win this week you are going to be feeling pretty good the next couple of weeks. The 19 team got to breathe really well through the first round. You get that win early and everything is great. If you put yourself behind the eight-ball and head to Talladega with a 50-percent chance of finishing the race, you aren’t sleeping too well. That is why it is so important when you come here to Dover to have a solid finish and score a lot of points in this race. Stage points, finishing points and if you get the win that is awesome and definitely how you want to do it but it is one race at a time. I do notice that pressure ratchets up each race in the round. The pressure that those guys had last race going into the roval that were anywhere near the cut going into the roval is a stressful weekend. Last round was all about scoring enough points to where you didn’t have to worry about the roval because you don’t know what is going to happen there.”
DO YOU GET STRESSED OUT OR WORRY ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS? “I was just on the radio a minute ago and was asked the same question and I told them there is a reason most of these drivers are bald. I don’t know if it is the helmet, but it might be the stress. There is a lot you have to deal with as a driver and as a leader. There is a lot that you have to overcome and figure out. The pressure is on this time of year and it either makes you better or you are going to fall apart. It kind of depends on the person. A lot of times you have to figure out what works for you. What works for Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson or Brad (Keselowski) or whoever is different. You have to go through these high pressure moments a few times to understand what works for you. That is why the experienced guys have such an advantage, they have been through it before and know how to handle it and the pressure actually makes them better. I feel like we are in a good spot for that reason being in this spot before.”
WHAT WORKS FOR YOU THEN? “I can’t tell you that. I think it is just finding ways to enjoy it and have fun. If you look at the past, the playoffs have been the times we have scored the most wins and most points throughout these 10 races. That helps with confidence to fire away at these playoffs and not even really think about it.”
FOR TALLADEGA NEXT WEEK, DO YOU HAVE A PLAN FOR THAT RACE? “The strategy is to never fall to the back. That is one thing I do know. As far as Talladega, it is hard to say right now. We need to get through Dover and understand what our situation is points wise. For us as a race team, I am not good at running around the back. I just can’t do it. Some people can. I just don’t have the patience to do it long enough and then I usually get in a crash trying to get to the front. I am better off just racing the whole time. That is what works for me. It is different for everyone. Everyone has their own approach, but for us it is racing and pretty much no matter what happens here this weekend that will be the approach.”
WHAT DOES TALLADEGA MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY? “Talladega is a historic race track. A lot of times when you ask fans what their favorite track is, the answer a lot of times is Talladega. It is a special place. It means a lot to win there because it is so hard to win there. A lot of times you don’t know you have it until you get there because anything can happen, good or bad. It is one of those race tracks where we have left angry and quite a few times we have left there with a smile on our face and a trophy. It is one of those places that you know you don’t leave there just having an okay day. You are either mad or happy.”
DO YOU NOTICE AFTER THREE RACES IF THERE IS MORE PUSH BACK FROM NON PLAYOFF DRIVERS FEELING LIKE PLAYOFF DRIVERS CAN USE THEM UP, SO THEY ARE KIND OF PUSHING BACK? OR IS THIS JUST NORMAL RACING OUT THERE? “It seems pretty similar to other years. There might be a couple of cases that have been shown a little bit more but I would say most of the time I don’t see special privilege for playoff guys out there. There is still a lot that those other teams are racing for. Non playoff guys are still racing for a lot. As a playoff driver you hope to get a little more room and respect but you can’t expect it. You can hope for it. They still have something to race for and you have to be big enough to understand that piece of it. From someone that has been on both sides of the fence, I understand that piece. If you didn’t make the playoffs, you are just trying to get some solid finishes and build for next year. It is important for them. We shouldn’t be the ones taking that away from them or expecting any special privileges. You go out there and race like normal and hope that you get a little bit of room because of what you are racing for but you can’t expect it.”
THE YEAR YOU MISSED THE PLAYOFFS, WAS IT EYE-OPENING FOR YOU HOW A NON-PLAYOFF DRIVER IS TREATED? “I would say it was maybe a little bit. You are just trying to have a good run. If you missed the playoffs, you have more than likely had a tough year and you are looking for anything you can grasp that is positive. That was the situation we were in a few years ago when we missed it. A top-five felt like a win. I don’t care if we are in the playoffs or not, we needed to build for the next year which ended up being our championship year. You can imagine that you never stop trying to turn the ship around and set yourself up for some momentum into the off-season.”
WHAT ARE THE FIRST FEW LAPS LIKE HERE AT DOVER WHEN YOU ROLL OUT ONTO THIS CONCRETE AND GET UP TO SPEED? “You have to respect this race track. You don’t just go out there – you go out there and go as fast as you can on the first lap no matter what because it is what you do, but it is a place that always gets your attention. It is one of those places that every time we qualify here I get out of the car and I have the shakes. I am telling you, it is something that you are pushing so hard. Race runs you find your limits and know where you are at and that you can kind of reset at a certain point in the corner to make sure you are low enough on the entrance so that when you come up onto that banking that you don’t just slap the wall. But in qualifying you don’t know what you’ve got until you get into the corner and it has to be your best lap so you push harder than your mind says is okay. When you do that, there is more risk and you know that because you are pushing yourself harder than you feel comfortable with but the reward, the pole, is what you go for. You have to do that to go fast around this place. It makes that really fun. It is really hard because you are fighting against your instincts but it is definitely a place to lay down some fast laps for sure.”
