{"id":51689,"date":"2025-05-06T20:58:41","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T01:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=51689"},"modified":"2025-05-07T21:12:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T02:12:48","slug":"joey-loganos-methodical-win-is-a-warning-flare-to-nascar-cup-competitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/06\/joey-loganos-methodical-win-is-a-warning-flare-to-nascar-cup-competitors\/","title":{"rendered":"Joey Logano\u2019s methodical win is a warning flare to NASCAR Cup competitors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MAY 04: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 AAA Insurance Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series W\u00fcrth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on May 04, 2025 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

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By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

FORT WORTH, Tex. \u2014 Joey Logano\u2019s victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday was all the more impressive because of the uncomplicated, straightforward nature of his NASCAR Cup Series win.<\/p>\n

There were no frills, no gimmicks, no two-tire calls and no convoluted strategies to get Logano to the front of the field when it counted.<\/p>\n

It was a blue-collar effort from start to finish on the part of Logano and his No. 22 Team Penske Ford contingent.<\/p>\n

Logano qualified poorly on Saturday\u201427th among 38 drivers\u2014precluding crew chief Paul Wolfe from selecting a desirable pit box. Instead, Wolfe had to settle for Stall 37, with Daniel Suarez pitting behind him and Riley Herbst in front.<\/p>\n

As Logano explained, that negated the option for a two-tire pit stop, a move that helped Michael McDowell get to the front in the late stages of the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never even swung the bat at two tires because of the stall that we had with the 35 (Herbst) in front of us,\u201d Logano said. \u201cWe just felt like putting two tires on was asking for a crash on pit road, because we would be leaving when he is coming in. We just kept putting four on it and trying to methodically pick off a couple here and there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we didn’t really go for the haymaker pit strategy. We just kept it basic, and we felt like our car was fast enough to get up there, and honestly, I thought, race in the top five. I didn’t know we were going to get to the lead. Our lap times were good enough to be in the lead, but we took so long to get there. Yeah, everything ended up working well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logano\u2019s progress through the field was deliberate. He didn\u2019t show up on the box score until the end of Stage 2, when he had climbed to ninth in the running order.<\/p>\n

The reigning series champion got some unexpected help when a caution for Jesse Love\u2019s crash on the backstretch on Lap 219 took several contenders, including William Byron, Chase Elliott and Logano\u2019s teammate Austin Cindric out of the mix for the victory.<\/p>\n

Those drivers already had come to pit road for service and were trapped a lap down, pending wave-arounds. By waiting to pit, Logano and teammate Ryan Blaney gained positions and lined up fifth and third, respectively, for the subsequent restart.<\/p>\n

From that point on, Logano was relentless in his pursuit of the win, doubtless additionally motivated by the disqualification from fifth place a week earlier at Talladega for a rear spoiler infraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoey did what he typically does at the end of these races when you put him in position,\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cI think (spotter) Coleman (Pressley) said it. There’s nobody better at it than him. He just continues to show us that as we go along here. It’s exciting to be part of, and I’m glad we could get our first win of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been a bit of a struggle this year to get the results that I feel like we’ve shown the speed, but we haven’t put it all together, and it was nice to just have a nice solid day and be able to find Victory Lane finally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Penske\u2019s strength on downforce tracks ought to be a red flag to other competitors. Josh Berry, who drives for Penske affiliate Wood Brothers Racing, won the fifth race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Berry led 41 laps at Texas before the pronounced bump in Turn 4 got the better of him on Lap 125.<\/p>\n

Cindric led 60 laps, second only to Kyle Larson\u2019s 90, before losing track position during the pit stop cycle and getting collected in a four-car crash on Lap 247.<\/p>\n

Blaney finished third after starting 24th in a top-five effort that mirrored Logano\u2019s run to the front.<\/p>\n

For the third time in four years, Cindric had broken the ice with the first win of the season for Team Penske, claiming the trophy April 27 at Talladega Superspeedway, a Playoff track.<\/p>\n

Team Penske has won the last three NASCAR Cup championships, with Logano prevailing in 2022 and 2024 and Blaney claiming the title in 2023.<\/p>\n

The pattern for those championships has been consistent\u2014a sluggish early season followed by a late-season charge.<\/p>\n

With Team Penske showing consistent strength this early, it\u2019s hard to imagine the organization won\u2019t be fielding contenders for a fourth straight title.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FORT WORTH, Tex. \u2014 Joey Logano\u2019s victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday was all the more impressive because of the uncomplicated, straightforward nature of his NASCAR Cup Series win. There were no frills, no gimmicks, no two-tire calls and no convoluted strategies to get Logano to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":51693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,13],"tags":[154,16,21],"class_list":["post-51689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-texas-motor-speedway","tag-joey-logano","tag-nascar","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2213418503-1-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-drH","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51689"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51694,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51689\/revisions\/51694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}