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Despite starting Sunday’s (April 16) NOCO 400 from the rear of the field, Joey Logano secured a P2 finish behind eventual winner Kyle Larson at Martinsville Speedway.
His #22 Ford Mustang was the only car to be sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments after his Team Penske found a water leak issue in the car. Logano lost the 400-mile race by a margin of 4.142 seconds.
Joey Logano got his chance late in the race, thanks to back-to-back cautions that were followed by a green-flag pit stop that changed race strategy in his favor. His crew chief made a surprising decision to keep Logano on track when many lead-lap cars pit under caution on Lap 346 and led the way on the restart on Lap 355.
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The Team Penske driver remained in the lead until lap 370 when Larson, who was on two new tires, finally caught him and took the lead to the checkered flag. During the post-race interview, Logano spoke about battling the #5 Hendrick Motorsports driver over the closing miles and said:
“I tried holding off Larson as long as I could. I didn’t have a fighting chance there. He drove away from me so quick but he was pretty patient. I knew I was going to get bumped. That was the only way he was going to go by me was he was going to have to get physical. Nothing wrong with that.”
The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion further added that he is happy to finish P2 after an awful start. Logano said:
“Overall, there’s days when you are mad about second. Today is not one of those. Today is when you are pretty stoked that you finished a little better than I thought we were going to.”
Joey Logano stands seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series points table
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has been a topsy-and-turvy one for Joey Logano so far. However, the defending champion has already locked in his playoff spot with a memorable win at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has five top-10 finishes in the first nine races and his worst finishes of the season came at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Bristol Motor Speedway.
Logano currently sits seventh in the Cup Series points table with 258 points, 44 behind table leader Christopher Bell.
Catch Logano in action at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (April 23).
