Joey Logano focuses intently on winning his second race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. (Photo: Bobby Krug | The Podium Finish)
MADISON, Ill. – More times than not, drivers like Joey Logano have their mindset on the present, not the past or future. After all, their task is on winning the race of the weekend such as Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Then again, Logano has plentiful reasons to reflect on last year’s race at the 1.25-mile egg shaped track. After all, he was engaged in a scrappy duel against Kyle Busch for the victory in the NASCAR Cup Series’ debut trip at the track less than 10 miles to the East of St. Louis.
“This race was a lot of fun, especially towards the end here,” Logano said to NASCAR.com‘s Alex Weaver. Kyle and I crossed each other back and forth. I had a pretty decent launch and a good push behind me to where I got ahead of Kyle into the corner.
“And I thought, ‘OK, I need to slide into here. I need to get into the top lane, the preferred lane.’ I released the brakes, slid him, he saw I was coming, he crossed me. And then we come off the corner and the roles are reversed.”
Logano looks to add more to Shell Pennzoil’s mosaic of success at Gateway. (Photo: Travis Haston | The Podium Finish)
Logano was prepared for the engaging scrap against Busch as both drivers were relentless and a bit merciless with each other. Both drivers, who are respectively two-time Cup champions, showcased why they are among the best of today’s stock car premier talents.
As Logano and Busch duked it out for the Enjoy Illinois 300 win, Logano showcased some of his wit and wile, finding the open lane coming toward the stripe for the race’s final lap.
“He’s door banging me,” he said. “I just slid him and he’s got the advantage going into the corner. I knew he was going to do the same thing back. He goes and slides me a little too much and I was ready for it.
“I was able to get off of (Turn) 4 as the leader and take the white flag. I had a big enough lead where he couldn’t get back to me. Pretty cool do to the crossover two times like that. That was pretty cool!”
Now, Logano finds himself in position to defend his victory a bit closer than he did in last year’s Cup inaugural race. For starters, he will roll off from the sixth place starting position, a spot better than last year’s efforts.
With only one win so far in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Logano hopes to parlay another win at Gateway with a victory in Sunday’s 240-lap race. Aggression counts but so does racecraft and smarts.
A confident Logano is usually a dangerous one for the rest of the Cup field. (Photo: Bobby Krug | The Podium Finish)
Based on the quickest time in Saturday’s practice session and last year’s victory, Logano may be making his best case to tally his second win of the year especially with a strong qualifying effort.
“I think our cars have a lot of potential,” Logano said. “We just need to tune it in a little better in qualifying. But in race trim, it seems pretty good. Same stuff as last year – it’s going to move up, get very racey.
“Strategy is still going to be a big deal. Hopefully we hit all those numbers right, do all those things right, and then we’ll be in the hunt.”
