Memo to Joey Logano: Hey, You Can Take a Breath Now...Or Not

Within the past 24 hours since the Food City 500, I have seen several articles that suggested Joey Logano take a big deep breath because he is guaranteed a spot for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville. I just had to lean back in my desk chair with my mouth agape. “Are you people kidding me?”

Joey Logano has had a crazy start to 2009, to say the least. He hasn’t quite gotten a hold of the concept, “the wall is not your friend,”  and seems to smack the barrier at some point no matter what track he visits.

At Daytona, he crashed out early. I confess I wasn’t surprised by this at all. The car he is driving now is not anything like the car he drove in the Nationwide series. I think Jeff Gordon said it best when asked about the new car a few months back, “These things drive different. They are like nothing I have driven before…very hard to drive.” In Daytona, Joey learned that the hard way as he took a nice spin in the grass.

Since Daytona, things have not improved too much. At California, he finished 26th. Sure, at Las Vegas, he brought home a decent 13th, but he turned around the next week with a 30th place finish at Atlanta .

This past weekend, he went to Bristol knowing he’d better do something to lock himself into Martinsville and had a blown engine. He got lucky to sit where he sits in the point standings.

Joey Logano currently sits 34th in the points standings. He’s one bad day away from being a “go-or-go-homer” and you want him to take a breath?! You’re kidding, right? Logano has had nothing but bad days. Things didn’t just magically get better because he’s in the top 35. He’s barely in it, and one mistake, he’s out.

Martinsville is exactly the track where those mistakes tend to happen. Glad teams at JGR don’t heed the media because if that “20″ team “takes a breath” for even an instant, they will find themselves in a world of trouble because let’s face it…Joey Logano isn’t a great qualifier either.

For the “20″ team, Martinsville should feel just the same as Bristol. Joey should still be worried about where he sits in the points, and make sure he keeps himself out of trouble.

For God’s sake Joey, don’t relax for an instant because those guys on the outside looking in are coming, just waiting for the kid to take a breath

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