Joey Logano still says he’s the favorite for the NASCAR championship race; Kyle Busch would be disappointed if Logano won it
On Thursday, the NASCAR Championship 4 stood on the stage in front of the media. It’s been talked that this is the best group of drivers in the history of the NASCAR Playoffs.
Kevin Harvick: “It’s the exact same four organizations that were here last year.”
Martin Truex Jr: “Yeah, it just depends on whether or not Brad or Joey are best drivers. I’m not sure.”
Kyle Busch: “They both run into you a lot.”
Joey Logano: “It’s probably best I keep my mouth shut on this one,” he said with a laugh.
*Last year the championship 4 were Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski.
History: Logano has a history with both Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. As recently as two weeks ago, Logano put the bumper to Martin Truex Jr to move his championship competitor up the track and take the win at Martinsville Speedway. In 2017, Busch and Logano had an incident that resulted in a fight on pit road.
In previous years, the championship 4 stage has been a battleground for jabs ahead of Sunday’s main event at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It’s been similar to boxing’s weigh-in procedures, minus the outbursts from meatheads. But, Logano elected not to fire any returning rounds in return. Why?
“I learned a lot from my ten years of doing this,” Logano said in his stand-alone press session. “Sometimes it’s best to keep your mouth shut, go out there and kick ass.”
“That’s just what you do. You go out there to win and that’s pretty much it. I’m not going to talk the talk. I’m just going to go out there and race my car.”
Joey Logano: The Favorite
Ahead of ISM Raceway, Joey Logano stated that he was the favorite heading into the NASCAR Playoffs. That drew a reaction from several other playoff drivers and stirred the pot a little bit.
“I didn’t mean to stir anything up. I just felt like I was. I still do. I’m not trying to stir the pot when I say that.”
“I feel like what we’ve been able to do the last 15 races — Heading into the playoffs, during the playoffs, all the way through to this point — We’ve been able to execute under a lot of pressure without many playoff points behind us.”
In the last 15 races, Logano has ten top-10 runs. Seven of those have been in the top-5 and one was of course a win.
“We’ve been able to get our way through, each round. Now, we’ve been leading the races and getting stage wins. The pit crew’s been on it. And grabbing the race win, maybe the most important one all year.”
“How do you not feel confident in that? You have to. I’m sure everyone else feels confident that they’re the favorite. I just said it. I’m pretty sure they think that too. If you don’t then just go home.”
“You gotta feel confident in yourself or else you’re wasting your time out here,” Logano concluded.
The Big 3 & Joey Logano
Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick each have eight race wins each. That’s 16 of the total 35 races so far. The defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr has 4. Then, there’s Joey Logano was his two race wins this year.
If anything, Logano is heading into this race with momentum but he’s certainly the underdog to win.
“He’s been there. He’s been fast and he’s been good. He hasn’t necessarily performed to the level of the big three.”
“That’s not shake on them at all. If he wins the title over the rest of us, that would certainly be a little more disappointing.
More
Joey Logano says he’s the favorite to win the NASCAR championship
Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano comment after the bump and run at Martinsville Speedway (Video)
Links
Joey Logano | Martin Truex Jr | Kevin Harvick | Kyle Busch | Homestead-Miami Speedway | NASCAR
