Joey Logano Shows That 2014 Sprint Cup Chase Will Be Won by Avoiding Trouble

I kept waiting for Joey Logano to say “I’d rather be lucky than good” in his post-race interview.

He didn’t have to. Logano was both on Sunday.

The 24-year old took advantage of a slew of problems by several of his fellow Chase drivers and easily scored his fifth win of the season at the Hollywood Casino 400. More importantly, the victory at Kansas Speedway automatically moved the Team Penske driver into the semifinal Eliminator Round of the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup.

In previous years, if you had asked a driver or crew chief what it took to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, the answer was simple. Have 10 error-free races in the Chase. The driver and team that could do that would end up with the title. This year, the format for the Chase changed and the emphasis was placed (rightly so) on winning races and then moving on to the next round.

And of course, if you can find a little luck along the way, it surely doesn’t hurt.

But, Sunday’s performance by Logano proved that that maybe the old formula for winning still stands. You still have to deliver an error-free race during these last 10 races of the Sprint Cup schedule.

Still, luck did play a factor for Logano on Sunday. His No. 22 team avoided having problems with its Goodyear tires, an issue his teammate Brad Keselowski referred to as “Russian Roulette” in a live television interview with ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch.

The list of Chase drivers that had problems Sunday was long. It included Keselowski, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne. Amid their problems, Logano saw an opportunity.

“When I see other Chase guys having troubles, that's when you say, ‘Holy cow, this is really about a solid finish here today,’” said Logano in the post-race press conference. “I wasn't going to put my car in a bad spot but I was going to be aggressive about it and try to put other people in a bad spot to make those passes. We were able to do that today.”

Logano could have easily made a mistake in the closing laps as rookie Kyle Larson stalked him lap after lap. But he didn’t.

“He (Larson) was a little faster at certain points in the run and I was faster late in the run and toward the end he was hitting his stride,” said Logano in a post-race interview with ESPN. “I had to take his air away. I worked the traffic perfectly and didn’t lose momentum to give up the lead.” 

Logano could have been caught speeding on pit road during one of his stops. But he wasn’t.

As we’ve watched him do so skillfully before, he has become the master of the clever restarts. Time and time again, Logano would confuse the field and get a tremendous jump on restarts.

And if a mistake-free race wasn’t enough, he also led 122 of the race’s 267 laps.

Has there been some discussion on whether or not Logano is championship material? In this corner, maybe there was. Until I took a serious look at how Logano the man has matured into a successful driver since his move to Team Penske last year.

How do you judge athletes on how good they are? Is it by their statistics or is it their character on the field of play?

It’s both.

Logano has the statistics this season—five wins, 14 top-fives and 19 top-10s.

Once know for being a young hothead who would often confront other drivers off the track, the angry young man routine is gone. Instead, there’s an articulate and determined man, with five wins and a genuine chance at being the Sprint Cup champion, in his place.

“It's a dream season so far. We've just got to keep finishing it off,” Logano said in his post-race press conference. 

When he first came to NASCAR, Logano had to live with the heavy yoke of someone having once called him “sliced bread.” It was a nickname that stuck. Unfortunately he failed to live up to it while driving in the overbearing confines of his tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing, racing alongside aggressive and established teammates like Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.

And in spite of his current success, the moniker still doesn’t work.

Maybe it’s time for a new nickname.

All quotes are taken from official NASCAR, team and manufacturer media releases unless otherwise stated.

Bob Margolis is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association and has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, the NHRA and Sports Cars for more than two decades as a writer, television producer and on-air talent. 

On Twitter: @BobMargolis