So far, 2026 has been the Tyler Reddick and Toyota show, and Hendrick Motorsports is also picking up. Meanwhile, on the Ford front, Ryan Blaney is leading the Team Penske charge. However, his teammate, Joey Logano, has been struggling. The three-time Cup Series winner is yet to win a race this season. Despite his slow start, Logano has expressed his desire to keep pushing.
Joey Logano is not panicking just yet
Logano started the season in style with a third-place finish in Daytona. It seemed like he was poised to have another special season, but for the next five races, the Penske driver would not breach the Top 5.
“No, I’m not okay. We shouldn’t be okay with it either,” said Logano when asked by Sirius XM Radio if he was okay with his start. “The points are where they are; there’s not much you can do about it right now, about the past. Got to keep grinding and moving forward. Long way to go in the season, obviously.”
His take seems valid as NASCAR still has 19 races before the start of the Chase Format. Currently, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick is leading the way, and while Logano has acknowledged his brilliance, he knows what it takes to turn things around.
“Everyone knows Reddick is a long way out there. To get back up into the Top 5 is not something that is achievable, I guess. It’s right there in front of us; it’s still pretty dang close,” said Logano. “You string together a couple of strong races, you’re right back into the Top 5 before you know it, cause it is close right now. For example, look at Bubba. Bubba was 2nd in points two races ago. It changes really, really quickly, cause it’s still in the year, the points are fairly close.”
Naturally, this has led some fans to wonder if he is past his prime. In the past, people would argue that Logano would be fairly anonymous for most of the regular season; however, he would sneak in a win to lock himself into the Playoffs.
Then, when the Playoffs kick off, he would come alive and either win or finish relatively high up. Unfortunately, there is no ‘Win, and you’re in’ safety net, so he will have to do it the hard way, and there have been questions raised on his ability to adapt to it.
Winning the fourth championship certainly is going to be harder, but Logano’s experience should prove to be helpful to get him out of his poor run of form.
The NASCAR Cup Series is set to resume this weekend at Bristol Speedway. Logano will be hoping to make a statement win at the track to slowly make his way back up in the standings. He has two Cup Series wins in Bristol, and if he can add a third one, Logano could make things tricky for other drivers in the standings.
