Ford Racing Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Media Zoom Call
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse, is fourth in the Chase standings and trails leader Kyle Larson by 67 points. Logano took part in a NASCAR media call this afternoon to talk about his situation while also looking ahead to this weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE FORMAT OF THE CHASE AND WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU ABOUT IT? “I think the thing that has probably stood out the most is the value of wins and stage points together. How you can quickly make up a fair amount of distance with the 70-point day. At the same time, if you have somebody like Larson last week that was already right there at the points lead and has a 70-plus point day and he’s checked out really quickly. He puts together a couple of those and he’s out there, but just as quickly if he has a couple bad ones and someone else has a couple big days like that, it closes right up. I think we’ve seen that all year. To me, look at Tyler Reddick at the beginning of the year. He was checked out. I already penciled him in as the regular season champion. I figured that was for sure, but as quickly as they get out there and take a big lead it can change just as quick if someone else gets hot at the right time. We’ve seen it. We’ve lived it. We went through and made up quick a few spots in points with that too, so I think that’s the thing that stands out the most to me.”
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS WITH A SPORT THAT HAS ENGINEERS? “Maybe we’re not as smart as we think.”
WAS THE CAR WHERE YOU FELT LIKE IT NEEDED TO BE TO CONTEND LAST WEEK AND IT WAS JUST THE PIT ROAD ISSUE AND TIRE THAT DERAILED YOUR DAY? DO YOU HAVE THE SPEED ON THE INTERMEDIATES? “I think the potential is there when you look at what the 2 was able to do, and the 12’s last run was really strong too, so the potential in the company is there. It wasn’t one of our stronger races. We were an eighth-place car give or take from there a couple of spots. That’s about what we had in it, so we kind of scored those stage points. I think we finished eighth and fifth in the stages and then we had the tire come apart there at the end and we lost a bunch of spots. It was just an average to below average kind of day – nothing too much to be excited about, but, at the same time, a little bit more optimistic about our mile-and-a-half stuff, seeing that as a company there’s potential there.”
HOW HAS THE SHARK FIN AND SOME OF THE OTHER AERO TRINKETS AFFECTED THE WAY THESE CARS RACE AND YOU GO ABOUT SETTING UP PASSING AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE? “Not much at all. I don’t feel like the shark fin has really done much – small, minor little things that you’ve got to be searching for to notice. No, I haven’t noticed much. As long as the cars stay on the ground more it’s a win, but I don’t feel like whether it’s the A-post flaps or those type of things and other little wickers, no, it’s small.”
WERE YOU EXPECTING TO SEE TEAMS AND DRIVERS RAISE THEIR LEVEL IN THE CHASE? “Yeah. It’s a long season. When the season is this long there are ups and downs and things kind of change. It’s about getting hot at the right time. That’s what the Chase, playoffs, any postseason type situation it’s all about being hot at the right time. Not that the regular season doesn’t matter, it does, and it seeds you to be in the right spot and to help you along. Either format does that, but the performance this time of year is what matters the most. There’s no doubt that the players in the game have changed throughout the year a couple times on who has been the fastest car, the dominant car and right now, obviously, is the most important time of the year to do that.”
CAN YOU SPEAK ON HOW A TEAM IMPROVES OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEASON WHEN YOU’RE MORE LIMITED THAN YOU USED TO BE WITH THIS CAR? “Sure, there are not as many items that you can mess with. It’s not like you have a big rollout plan for all of these awesome, new, trinkety little things and like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be it.’ It doesn’t seem to be that way anymore, so it’s much harder to find an advantage on where that is. It’s gonna be a lot of little things. That’s kind of the answer and I know it’s maybe not what you’re looking for, but it’s just a bunch of little things that stack in and I think we all kind of talked a little bit about the splitter stuff. That’s been, I think, a big piece that brought all of the teams closer, and then it’s just small gains – small engine gains, small little aero gains, small little setup changes that you’ve figured out over the year, and then just how what NASCAR rules are going to be enforced and enforcing it the way they are and making the changes they did is a big piece to it, and I think that’s probably the biggest thing, but there’s been a bunch of little things that all kind of stack in there.”
WHEN AUSTIN RUNS AS WELL AS HE DID ALL DAY AND RYAN FINISHES STRONG, DOES THAT IMPACT ALL OF THE TEAM SETUPS AT TEAM PENSKE FOR VEGAS AND CHARLOTTE? “It impacts it pretty immediately, like Monday we’re talking about it. Today we’ve been talking about it like, ‘Hey, what do we want to try this weekend for setups in practice and how do we want to go about it?’ We don’t have practice that we can swing a bunch of things at it, so it’s like what do you want to commit to and are you really gonna have an answer when we leave here or not. Those type of things that we are very open with each other. We all know what we have in the cars, so on one hand it’s easy to say, ‘we’ll just put that in there,’ but which item maybe makes it better? And it’s hard to say what that is sometimes if there are 10-15 things that are different.”
THREE OF THE FIRST FOUR CHASE RACES HAD QUALIFYING RAINED OUT. WHAT ROLE HAS RESULTS FROM THE PRIOR WEEK HAD ON THIS CHASE WITH THE METRIC BEING USED A LOT? “It’s played a fair amount because it’s been a few races where it’s been good or has been obviously an effect. Obviously, last week we were on the right side of it. Darlington, we weren’t, so it just kind of comes out in the wash most of the time. It still rewards performance and it rewards for running well. It rewards the points and those type of things. I personally don’t have a huge issue with it. Tell me a better way and maybe I’ll change my opinion, but it seems to be OK. Maybe we can tweak it some, sure. But it’s definitely played some effect, for sure.”
HOW MUCH ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO ADJUST OR IS THAT THE WRONG WAY TO LOOK AT IT AND THE TEAM STILL HAS TO FIND WAYS TO MAKE YOU COMFORTABLE BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT IS GOING TO BE GETTING 100 PERCENT OUT OF THE CAR? “Both. These aren’t things that we haven’t talked about yet. These are things that all season long, all race long, every lap you’ve got to be comfortable pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and trying to figure out what parts that you need to as a driver be working on and be open-minded too and what parts that you know are the things that make you successful, and that experience that I have, how can we leverage that and help guide a team that way, too. It’s both. There’s no one-sided answer to that.”
WHAT WILL BE PART OF THE PROCESS IN PRACTICE THAT YOU WILL LOOK AT AND CONSIDER TO SEE HOW FAR YOU CAN GO AND HOW FAR THE CAR CAN GO? “Without letting out all of our secrets out on what we look for and what we think is important. I don’t think I need to say all those things, but I do think there’s obviously the speed knob. That’s the obvious. The balance and where the car goes as far as the long run versus the short run and those type of things. You’re always looking at that. Just obviously more details that go into that. The things that we think matter at Vegas that’s important, but the obvious answer is what speed do you have, where does your balance go with your car and can you move around the racetrack? Those are probably the first things you look to key off of.”
IS THERE A WAY TO COMPARE AND CONTRAST WHAT CARSON HOCEVAR IS DOING COMPARED TO OTHER DRIVERS WHO HAVE COME BEFORE HIM THAT HAVE RUBBED PEOPLE THE WRONG WAY? “He’s definitely done it a different way. I don’t think there’s much comparison to me. In some ways I think there is, but not really on the things that I went through. It’s definitely different. It’s unique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. There’s a lot of things where I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s just a whole different way of doing it.’ And good, bad, any different, who am I to judge? It’s definitely different.”
IS HE JUST THIS DECADE’S GUY WHO DOES THINGS DIFFERENTLY OR IS THERE SOME OTHER REASON HE’S GOTTEN SO MUCH ATTENTION FOR HOW HE’S DOING? “I think anytime he’s on the racetrack he’s kind of a highlight reel of some sort, whether it’s restarts or the incidents that he’s in. You kind of know like something is gonna happen. There’s not many times after a race we’re not talking about him, that he made a move or did something. Good or bad, it’s always a storyline. He’s a walking highlight reel and there’s a lot of good to be said about that. There’s a lot of great things about that for the sport, for him, for his team. I will say there is balance to that like ‘what are we trying to accomplish here? Are we trying to accomplish highlights or are we trying to win championships?’ You have to look at that and say what’s right and what’s wrong, but everyone has their own way of going about things, and I think he’s a polarizing character on the racetrack. If I take the driver hat off and look at that, I go it’s probably good for the sport. Whether I root for him or not is not really the point of it, it’s ‘hey, people are talking about it,’ and that’s probably okay.”
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON BRAD LEAVING RFK? “Surprised. I think that was the first thing probably like most everybody. I didn’t see that one coming. Usually, you hear rumors of things and things kind of rumbling and things like that, but I didn’t hear much before that, so it was quite a surprise. That’s probably where I’m at with it. I’m surprised. I don’t know anything else and what’s gonna happen, obviously, but it was quite the surprise. I don’t think anyone saw that coming at this point. I think we all probably are quick to assume that when the name is on the door that you wouldn’t have seen something like this. It’s just interesting to see that happen.”
DID YOU HEAR ALL OF THE THINGS PEOPLE SAID ABOUT YOU IN YOUR YOUNGER DAYS WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED IN THE CUP SERIES? “I never changed. I naturally changed as I got older and I learned things the hard way. No one ever told me to change, but I do look at some of the things that happened on the racetrack and I think, ‘Golly, man, I could be sitting here with four championships right now looking to get a fifth.’ Instead, I’m sitting here with three looking to get four. I do look at those type of things and say, ‘Gosh, maybe I could have handled that better and differently.’ For the most part, to your point, it worked out really well. I think in general I’m a bit of a, I know I compete as a hard competitor and I push the limits on some things, but most of the time I’m a pretty conservative person and I think there’s probably some balance. There’s some sponsors out there that are looking for the edgy person that’s going out there and being crazy, and there are some Fortune 500 companies that are looking for somebody that understands their business and understands what they’re trying to accomplish, too. There’s a place for everybody. No one says you have to do it a certain way to be successful. Be you. That’s the biggest thing. Don’t be fake. Be who you are and own that, but I think just depending on what you’re trying to do and what you want your brand to be and the partners around you.”
HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO STAY WITH THAT DRIVE THAT YOU HAVE BECAUSE YOU’VE MADE IT IN THIS SPORT? “Multiple things. For one, I hate losing personally, but, two, you’ve got to kind of change your reasoning on why you want to win. Is it to win, to your point, to keep your job for you, for your pride? For me, it’s changed because now with kids I really am motivated for my kids to see us be successful, and I work really hard because I want them to know what that is. I am a firm believer in leading by example as a parent or as a leader in any way, shape, or form, so that motivates me to win. And I have relationships now in this business. I look here at Team Penske and there’s not a face that walks through the door I don’t know anymore, and I know what those wins and how it matters to them. I wouldn’t ever do that. I wouldn’t ever just, I don’t know, coast it in to the end. It’s just not me. I’ve always said it. If I’m out here and I’m not fast and I’m holding this place back, I’m gonna raise my hand and say I’m out of here before someone tells me I’m going to be because I just want to make sure that I am somebody that is bringing something to the table and not a drag that’s just collecting a paycheck to the end. That’s just not who I’m built to be.”
THIS IS THE FIRST LAS VEGAS RACE SINCE KYLE’S PASSING. HAVE YOU GIVEN ANY THOUGHT TO THE SENTIMENT MIGHT BE LIKE THIS WEEKEND? “I think there’s been some of those races that stand out. We just went through one at Bristol and seeing what Ty Gibbs did and having Brexton there and Samantha and everybody. That was definitely a different feel. Some tracks where unfortunately it just seems like we move on a little too quickly, but it is special that we have races like this one coming up. Charlotte it seems like is gonna be another one as well that we can be able to spend a little bit of time thinking about one of the legends in our sport, the impact that he made on our sport, and having his family there. I think that’s probably the coolest part and the most important part to me seeing that. When Brexton is at a track like Bristol. All of the kids, you don’t understand, it’s not just that Kyle is not on the racetrack, it’s that his family is not in the bus lot anymore and that’s like a hole that hasn’t really been filled. We noticed that at Bristol. I see my kids playing with their kids. Amelia and Lennix, it’s kind of crazy to see Lennix go walking into MRO and they just went up and hugged each other and they were so glad to see each other. They hadn’t seen each other since Kyle’s passing, so that sense of community is far more important than what we think sometimes and to see the kids play together. Hudson and Brexton are racing dirt bikes through the bus lot and down through the rocks down there. It just was fun to see them be kids through those moments and I think those are the things, to me, that stand out even more than to me personally the legacy stuff is special and it’s probably great for the fans, but if you see the inside – kind of the inside baseball a little bit – of what those relationships are inside the bus lot it’s pretty special.”
WHAT CHALLENGES WILL BE PRESENT FOR CHARLOTTE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS? “You’re getting me a little early on this one. Those are kind of the last-minute details that we go over the week of. Setup stuff we talk about, but that’s not gonna be much different from day to night. But just balance trends if it stays day all the time and the rubbering up and that piece of it. Charlotte is a pretty heat-sensitive racetrack, but without knowing what the weather is gonna be next week yet, and I’ve got a race ahead of me that I’m fully focused on, I’m hard to be someone that looks more than one week ahead. I’ve got to get through this race at Vegas first.”
