“He’s going to come back from a not-so-good race in Phoenix”: NASCAR Insider picks Joey Logano to triumph in Las Vegas

NASCAR Insider Heather DeBeaux named Joey Logano her pick to win the upcoming Las Vegas race. She argued the 32-year-old veteran driver would bounce back from a 13th-place finish tainted with a penalty at Phoenix Raceway.

Driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, Logano enters the Pennzoil 400 as the defending winner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He won last year's South Point 400 (fall race) to secure his spot to the Championship 4.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post by PRN, DeBeaux shared her thoughts on the upcoming race in the Sin City.

"I just want to see another exciting finish this week. I feel like every single race leading up to this point, we've had exciting finishes of drivers being neck and neck right down to the end with great battles. So I'm hoping we continue that trend in Las Vegas this weekend," the NASCAR Insider said.

When asked about her favorite to win at the 1.5-mile track, she replied:

"Oh gosh, you're putting me on the spot. Joey Logano. He's [going to] come back from a not-so-good race at Phoenix and end up in victory lane in Vegas."

Despite leading the most laps (207) this season, Joey Logano has yet to park his car in victory lane. His best finish was 12th place at Atlanta Motor Speedway where he dominated in the first half until he lost the lead to Alex Bowman towards the end of stage two.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion sits ninth in the standings after making up three positions following the Phoenix race weekend.

Joey Logano driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang at Phoenix Raceway - Source: Imagn

The 2025 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will begin this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. PRN will broadcast the race on radio alongside SiriusXM, while FS1 will handle the TV coverage.

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NASCAR legend backed Joey Logano amid restart violation issue at Phoenix

Joey Logano was issued a drive-through penalty at Phoenix Raceway after driving below the yellow line before completely clearing the start/finish line. NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. disagreed with the call and said the officials were nitpicking.

On an episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, the 26-time Cup race winner said Logano didn't gain an advantage for cutting the dogleg early on lap 14.

"That would have been a moment to say, 'Look, man. We're not going to torpedo Joey's day over about 12 inches of asphalt. He didn't gain anything from it.' It would have been a good time to say, 'Alright, everybody, we're sending out a warning. The #22 car was aggressive there. Stop doing it,'" Dale Jr. stated.

He added:

"I think that would have been the play. But I just feel like it was a little bit nitpicky."

The penalty forced Joey Logano to drop from the lead to 37th behind open-car driver Katherine Legge. He made up positions and finished 13th when the checkered flag fell. Christopher Bell, meanwhile, notably won three consecutive races, a first in the Next-Gen car era.

Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric finished 19th and 28th, respectively.