“I don’t think that way”: Joey Logano laughs off even-year streak superstition

Had NASCAR not disqualified Alex Bowman, who was previously sitting eighth in the playoff picture, Joey Logano would have been ousted from contention. Is the "even-year" superstition revolving around Logano's Championship 4 appearance working its magic?

The Team Penske driver has qualified for the Championship 4 on five occasions (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022), all of which were even years. Last week's close call at Charlotte indicated that he might qualify again in 2024, which is again, an even year.

Joey Logano, however, doesn't believe in superstitions. When asked about the same during a recent interview at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Ford pilot said,

"I don't think that way. It's pretty ironic though. I don't know. We'll see...I hope it's right. I don't believe in that stuff but hey, cool."

This year's South Point 400 will mark Logano's 23rd start at LVMS. He has three wins there (2019, 2020, 2022), besides five top 10s and four top 5s.

Logano qualified 10th for Sunday's race at the 1.5-mil, tri-oval intermediate speedway. He delivered his fastest lap at 184.382 miles per hour (29.287 seconds). Logano will start in Row 5, alongside Hendrick Motorsports icon, William Byron.

"Who cares?"- Joey Logano shuns public opinion about his playoff return

Joey Logano was eliminated from the playoffs for a few hours before getting reinstated, following Bowman's DQ. Logano wasn't ready for the news, but it came as a pleasant surprise.

"I was starting to move forward," Logano recalled. "You get there literally the moment we get out of the race car. It takes a little bit to get your thoughts collected, and honestly, by the time I was driving home, my wife and I were talking about something far more important than what we were doing at the racetrack."

"My mind was already starting to shift on what were the next moves and kind of getting over the race. Then I started hearing the rumors from there, and the phone started to ring shortly after," he further stated.

However, now that Logano is in the hunt for his third NASCAR Cup Series title, people have been talking about how he has delivered only three top-5s this year. Some even think he doesn't have enough top-10s to be a top Championship contender. Responding to the same, Logano said,

"Like I said before, from the outside looking in, you look at it and say, ‘Well, they haven’t had as many top fives. They haven’t had as many top 10s. They haven’t been as competitive. Who cares?"

"We’ve lived this story many times before. Yeah, would it be easier if you had more playoff points? Yeah, but you know what? You win this weekend, and you’re sitting as the favorite going into Phoenix, so it changes like that, and that’s with the playoff system that we have," he added.

Fans can watch Logano in action on NBC from 2:30 PM ET onwards. Radio updates will be available on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.