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Joey Logano Vies for Cook Out Clash Conquest at Bowman Gray

Joey Logano

Joey Logano might have the makings for another Cook Out Clash win with Bowman Gray Stadium playing host. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Joey Logano is made for races where drivers can put their courtesies aside and focus simply on winning.

Sunday’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium serves a perfect appetizer for the newest three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion before the main feast in two weeks — the 67th DAYTONA 500.

Still relatively young at 34 and considered one of the top racers, Logano enjoyed the respite after winning the title at Phoenix last November.

“The offseason has been great,” Logano said. “Anytime you leave the season as the winner, the offseason becomes a lot more enjoyable and also a lot busier at the same time, where a lot of opportunities have come my way and you don’t want to waste those. You don’t want to waste any opportunity that comes your way because you have a championship under your belt. A lot of great things and a lot of fun things.

“I got to spend some time with the family, which is great and get prepared for the season. The facts are the championship was awesome and we enjoyed it, but it’s over. If you look at the scoreboard right now, everybody has zero. We’ll have an opportunity to go up to Bowman Gray and have a little bit of fun and knock the rust off and just go through the motions and try to win a race up there with nothing to lose and then, obviously, the biggest race coming up here in the Great American Race, the DAYTONA 500.”

Before taking on the 0.25-mile “Madhouse,” just a relative hour’s drive from the nucleus of stock car’s heartbeat, he offered his thoughts on rotating the Clash at different venues not just from a racer’s perspective but with a father’s mindset.

Joey Logano

Joey Logano might start this season like he finished 2024 — winning, this time in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)

“I think we should. I think it always draw up a little bit more excitement and people talk about it more when it’s something new,” he remarked. “‘What are we gonna see at Bowman Gray? I don’t know.’ When we went to L.A. the first time, remember all the talk of what that race was gonna be like and no one had a clue? It draws up a lot of hype, which is good, and you’re also bringing it to the race fan.

“I’ve said this many times before, but it is hard to ask a family of any size to travel a long distance to go to a sporting event. It’s hard to do that, whether you have young kids or older kids, getting hotel rooms, getting the tickets, it becomes expensive. These days, it’s hard to do that, so I think moving our races around, going to our race fans is great.”

It was not long ago when Logano was just a racefan like those at Bowman Gray Stadium who wanted a few seconds with their asphalt arena hero. Even with his successes and achievements, the Middletown, Connecticut, native has not forgotten about being a fan, one of the motivators with rotating this prelude to NASCAR’s season opener.

“When you look at what Winston-Salem is to our sport, and that whole region, we all see the numbers and there are a lot of NASCAR fans there, a ton of them,” he said. “So going to our race fans is kind of going back to grassroots up there, but it’s also cool that we’re giving race fans that might not have been able to go to other races an opportunity to see a race. Whether that’s in Winston-Salem or in L.A. or name a city, I think moving it around is cool because it gives people opportunity.”

Joey Logano

Joey Logano’s short track tenacity might be an asset in Sunday’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. (Photo: Phil Cavali | The Podium Finish)

Even before qualifying seventh for Sunday’s 200-lap main event, all from finishing runner-up in his Heat Race, the longtime Team Penske driver anticipated the challenges of racing on this tight bullring and the entertainment factor of this exhibition event, a take it or leave it affair.

“I don’t know if it’s very free, it’s pretty confined in there. It’s pretty tight racing,” he quipped with a laugh. “You’re not gonna be able to open her up too much, but the pressure feels a lot different when you go there, only because there’s nothing to lose, really per se and everything to win. There’s a trophy to win and a lot of really cool factors to be the first to win at a racetrack, and it’s nice to get a little momentum built and all those type of things.

“There are a lot of reasons to want to go race, but if something was to happen, it’s not the end of the world. Would I be upset if you turn on TV and I get dumped are you gonna see Joey Logano pissed off? Absolutely, because I want to win, but it doesn’t affect the rest of our season, and I think all of the drivers probably feel similar, I would assume. If you win, awesome. If you don’t win, yeah, you might be mad for a few hours, but you’re gonna get over it and start thinking about Daytona.”

Rob Tiongson is a sports writer and editor originally from the Boston area and resides in the Austin, Texas, area. Tiongson has covered motorsports series like NASCAR and INDYCAR since 2008 and NHRA since 2013. Most recently, Tiongson is covering professional basketball, mainly the WNBA, and women's college basketball. While writing and editing for The Podium Finish, Tiongson currently seeks for a long-term sportswriting and sports content creating career. Tiongson enjoys editing and writing articles and features, as well as photography. Moreover, he enjoys time with his family and friends, traveling, cooking, working out and being a fun uncle or "funcle" to his nephew, niece and cat. Tiongson is an alum of Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and St. Bonaventure University's renowned Jandoli School of Communication with a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism.

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