If Martin Truex Jr. is to win at Martinsville, he’ll have to beat the driver starting beside him on the front row in Sunday’s race.
Joey Logano, who advanced to the Round of 8 on the strength of last Sunday’s victory at Talladega, knows only too well what a victory at the .526-mile short track could mean for his title hopes.
“Winning here at Martinsville might be the biggest win of the year,” said Logano, who lost the pole for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 to Truex by .008 seconds. “It might be what wins you a championship, if you think about it. Being in this Round of 8, if you win, you’re obviously going to Homestead (site of the Nov. 20 Championship 4 race). You know you’re not finishing worse than fourth in points, and it gives you the ability to think about nothing but Homestead for two weeks, while other teams have to think about the next two races to get themselves in.
“You’ve got to get there before you can win the championship, so I think it’s a pretty big advantage to win this one. This is a tough race, obviously. We’ve yet to win here. We’ve come close a few times, so we’ll just keep doing what we know how to do. We keep making constant progress at this race track as the 22 team, so I’m excited about that.”
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
