Joey Logano, the 2018 NASCAR Cup Champion and pilot of the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske is the most confident playoff contender in his ninth playoff run. Logano has made the Championship 4 five times (2022, ’20, ’18, ’16, ’14) tying him with Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch for the series-most appearances in the Championship 4.
The number one thing driving Logano and his team is the idea that they aren’t simply happy to make it into the Championship 4, it isn’t a big enough prize to bring home.
“I feel like we’re in a great spot right now. I feel like our team is in a great spot for a lot of reasons. For one, we’re not happy to be here. We’re not happy to be in the Championship 4. This isn’t enough for us”, said the veteran driver.
At Saturday’s qualifying session, Logano had the fastest lap of 26.788 with a speed of 134.389mph earning his 26th career pole in the Shell Pennzoil Ford at Phoenix Raceway.
His most important win of the season to date came at the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway which locked him in as the first driver in the Championship 4, giving the No. 22 team the advantage of a good three weeks to prepare for Championship Weekend in Phoenix.
With sixteen top-ten’s and ten top-five’s, four poles in thirty-five starts, he may not have the most wins, but he has taken home the checkered flag where it counts most.
On-call for the delivery of his third baby, Logano kicked off the 2022 season with an exciting win in Los Angeles at the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum for its inaugural run. While it was not a points race, he was the first to win a race in the Next Gen car on the pop-up short track.
He successfully courted a trophy at the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, the track “too tough to tame” in the spring.
His second win of the season came at the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Joey Logano has proven himself to be the most seasoned and consistent wheelman out of the remaining playoff drivers. If he is to be the beginning and end of the 2022 season, he must bring the season to a close with a win at Phoenix Raceway and he has all the confidence to lock it in for a second championship
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“I’ve never felt more solid in this position than I do right now,” he said.