NASCAR star Joey Logano: 'If I can't win, I don't want to do it.'
If you don't win, then what's the point of racing? That's the perspective of NASCAR star Joey Logano.
"If I can't win, I don't want to do it because I like winning more than I like racing," Logano said on the latest edition of "Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour" podcast. "The racing part [is] OK, but the winning part's the only reason why I do it. I can find joy in doing other things besides running mid-pack in a Cup race. If that's what I got to, and I'm holding back my race team, I'm out. I just don't want to do that. … I can find ways to win in business or in other stuff [where] I can get that competitive vibe.
"Eventually, if you keep getting your butt kicked every week, you're going to be like, 'Screw this. I'm going to go do something else.'"
Joey Logano’s relationship with crew chief, handling criticism & more
Logano, a two-time Cup Series champion (2018 and 2022), is just 17th in total points (292) this season and has yet to win a regular-season race. He has just one top-five finish and three top-10 finishes under his belt this season. The 33-year-old hasn't been in victory lane since March 19, 2023.
That said, Logano dominated last week's 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race, leading 199 of 200 laps at North Wilkesboro Speedway before ultimately winning the race.
Logano is in the midst of his 16th full-time Cup season. Despite the atypical results, Logano feels that he and crew chief Paul Wolfe are on the same page.
"I have to be willing to take the hit and him [be] willing to point it out," Logano said, "which Paul's very willing to point out where I'm off, and I'm okay with that as long as we can have that back-and-forth conversation. I call that the dirty work. It's not the fun part; it's not exciting; Monday mornings aren't always the most fun day of the week after something, but we have to go through it, learn from things and, most importantly, move on after that and be confident and ready for the next race.
"Paul's a racer. He wants to win. He is the most competitive person I think I've met, and he does it in a quiet way, so no one really knows. He doesn't talk a whole bunch. I kind of pull it out of him sometimes. … There's no high; there's no low, it's just here [with Wolfe]. When we win, I get emotional; I get excited. I'm like, 'We work so hard. You get so pissed off when we don't win, can you be happy when we do win?' It's fun to work with him."
Logano and Wolfe are in their fifth season together, with the former in his 12th season with Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing), and the latter being in his 14th season with the team. Logano spent the first four seasons of his Cup Series career at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Logano & Co. aim to go back-to-back in the state of North Carolina on Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
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