Joey Logano wants more speed from his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang. (Photo: Stephen Conley | The Podium Finish)
BROOKLYN, Mich. – In the past 14 years, Joey Logano has been one of the top drivers at Michigan International Speedway.
The 33-year-old Middletown, Connecticut has three wins, eight top fives and 18 top 10 results in his 26 career starts. With an average finish of 12.2, Logano is a consistent front runner regardless of the generation of car and competitors he battles.
In 2013, Logano broke through with his first Team Penske victory in the 2013 summer race. Most recently, the two-time and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion has won the FireKeepers Casino 400 in 2016 and 2019.
Since the 2019 victory, it has been a bit of an inconsistent stretch at the 2-mile track with finishes of 17th, eighth, fifth, 33rd and fourth. He has not led a lap at the superspeedway since the first half of the 2020 doubleheader weekend.
However, as with anything in life, cycles keep things going and the trend may improve for the 32-time Cup race winner. Logano was one of two Team Penske racers to advance to the final round of qualifying with the sixth fastest time.
Despite the respectable pace exhibited in Saturday’s qualifying session, Logano wanted more out of his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang. For the time being, prior to the race, he was not sure where things stood with his car.
“I don’t know yet,” Logano said. “I got a lot to look at. I don’t know if we’re good or not. The car doesn’t feel awful. It’s just the other cars going faster. So, we have to go back and look at it.”
While Michigan is a track that typically emphasizes high speed and horsepower like classic stock car competition, handling still matters. Logano hoped his No. 22 team could work on loosening his Ford Mustang to gain more speed.
“Our car is a little on the tight side, and that usually robs a little bit of speed,” he said. “So, we’ll have to look into that.”
Throughout the years, Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe have shown that they can make the most out of a tough or challenging situation. In 2020, he advanced to the Championship 4 despite not having the fastest car on a consistent basis.
Last year, the talk of the town was Chase Elliott’s No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports. Still, Logano and Wolfe mustered enough speed and peaked when it mattered to tally Team Penske’s fourth Cup championship.
Michigan may be a unique beast among the many circuits comprising the NASCAR Cup Series schedule. When it comes down to it, there is nobody more savvy and up to the task at hand than Logano, especially when it comes to tackling the track nestled in the Irish Hills.
