Joey Logano heads to NASCAR Cup Series championship race with a score to settle
Joey Logano is back in the race for the championship and isn't a prisoner about the NASCAR Cup Series title fight.
Sunday is a revenge tour. It's been two years since the 2018 Series champion last ran for the title, and the result still doesn't go down well with him.
Logano finished third in the race and championship that day, but felt he was in control of the fight until something got out of his control.
"Absolutely, there is no race in my mind more so than the 2020 Phoenix Fall Race," Logano said on Thursday.
"It's just a race I think, as a race team, we did everything right. [We] ran down there Chase [Elliott], got a green signal, cycled past him [and] the pit After the K stops,
we're over a second ahead and then with that shaky tyre. And then back to fourth on the last fuel with 40—whatever that has to go.
"It haunts me to this day. I literally can't get over it. I probably never will. It's his revenge."
Logano has two years to stew in what could have been.
"Absolutely," he said. "I think about it a lot."
Logano is the most experienced of the four title contenders going into Sunday's race (3 p.m. ET, NBC).
And that's not only because Logano, at 32, is the oldest driver in the bunch (Elliott is the youngest at 26) but in knowing what to expect,
how to handle the week and all it brings, and Don't be overwhelmed by the opportunity to race for a championship.
This time is Logano's fifth appearance in the nine winner-takes-all season finals, and after winning the first race in Round of 8,
Logano and Team Penske have two weeks to get their car - and mind - right.
"It's not another race," Logano said. "I like how people do it and say it's just another race; it's a way of demeaning a situation that you really, honestly can't believe in.
Because it's not, it One is running for a championship. It's bigger than any other race. It absolutely is.
So you have to learn to handle that pressure, and the only way to know how to do it is to go through it multiple times.
“I feel like it gives a clear advantage to not only me but my entire race team going into this race, on top of some of the other things we already know.
I feel pretty good about where we are. I love that we've been here so many times, and we can focus on doing our job."