DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Three-time and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano showed up for the first official day of work at the track insisting his championship hardware is on the shelf, and he and the No. 22 Team Penske Ford team are simply at the starting gate again.
“Your confidence is higher, but that’s the only thing that is different,” Logano said of coming to race as the defending series champion. “You’re coming off a good year, so you feel, obviously, solid about it, but we don’t have a lead on anyone anymore. We’re back to zero. The goal is no different. Our mission is still to win the championship. That doesn’t change.”
Logano is one of eight former DAYTONA 500 winners entered for Sunday’s race but an addition to his 2015 win would make him one of only three drivers entered this week —along with three-time winner Denny Hamlin and two-time winner Jimmie Johnson—with multiple victories in the sport’s biggest event.
While there are vastly different opinions on the style of close-quarters pack racing the famed Daytona high-banks produces, Logano said he not only likes it but feels a whole lot more in control of his destiny than perhaps some of his other competitors allow.
“I think you can control all of it,” Logano said. “I don’t see what parts you can’t. If you understand the probabilities and the chances around you and who’s around you and what they’re most likely to do, you can control most of your destiny.
“I kind of look at it like a card game, right? You can win with any hand, if you play it correctly. So maybe you don’t have the best hand, but you can probably figure out how to do something with it.”
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
