Joey Logano has had a miserable 2026 up until his dominating win at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
His Team Penske No. 22 car just hasn’t run consistently up front, let alone shown race-winning speed prior to the most recent Cup race. It was enough to raise at least moderate concern over whether he’d make The Chase at all.
But was the performance at one of NASCAR’s most historic facilities enough to stem the tide for Logano and serve as the foundation for another championship run? After all, there is some precedent. Thomas Dunn and Joy Tomlinson contextualize that and more on this week’s 2-Headed Monster.
Happy Hour Podcast: Is Joey Logano Back? Shane van Gisbergen’s Evolution, Superspeedways & Track Revivals
There’s Precedent, and I’m Buying in
Outside of a winning result in the fashion that he did it this past Sunday, there was no world where I was entertaining this at first.
Don’t get me wrong, the standard for Logano is still much higher than what has been shown through the last three years, including his 2024 championship. But that performance, mixed with the opportunities still available, point to an avenue to once again create his own leverage in a movie that we’ve seen before.
Team Penske is notorious for being really good on short flat ovals, and there are a hoard of them coming up in Iowa Speedway, Richmond Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway.
With the addition of the 50-minute practice session within that timeframe, it only serves the No. 22 better, with more track time available for a veteran driver and crew chief in Paul Wolfe, who is known for extracting more over the course of time.
Now there’s still the question of mile-and-a-half oval speed, along with the fact that we’re now heading back into The Chase format as opposed to the elimination-style playoff format. But with additional track time and trends that point to Penske improving as the year goes on, Logano has more on his side than I initially expected.
He’s one of the few drivers who has won the fall oval race before at Charlotte Motor Speedway, is famous for performing well at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and hasn’t finished outside the top 10 at the fall Martinsville Speedway race since 2017.
Now there’s still a lot of improvement that the No. 22 team needs to make in order to make this more of a reality, but when I was initially probed on this during Happy Hour, I didn’t think there’d be much of a consideration.
But a team built for the long haul mixed with a driver that is never truly out of it until the fat lady sings means Logano has the background to do this once again. We’re not anointing him as the 2026 champion by any means, but to not consider the possibility of him making a run is a bridge we’ve already been burned by in the past. – Thomas Dunn
This Isn’t the Playoffs Anymore
No, Joey Logano won’t be a championship contender this year.
It’s one win. Yes, it was a dominating win, but he’s 15th in points; he has a long way to go before we can even consider him to run for a championship.
For one, Logano isn’t the only driver with a single win so far. Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar all have one too, and I’m sure only so many think they’re contenders (other than Gibbs, as he’s fourth in points).
Logano would have to earn enough points in the next 15 races to just gain 10 spots in the standings, and that would take a bit of work. Not only would he need to score very well in each race on the way to Homestead-Miami Speedway, those ahead of him would have to have very poor points days. That includes drivers like Christopher Bell, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott and Bubba Wallace.
I’m not talking just one single race. All of those drivers would need to at minimum finish poorly in several events for Logano to bypass them (should he score stage points and earn top fives or top 10s in those events too).
I’m not saying it’s impossible, just highly unlikely.
Even the greatest No. 22 Team Penske fan could see how it’s a daunting task. Let’s take a look at Logano’s history at some of the upcoming races this season.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway hasn’t been kind to him the last two years, as he crashed out of both of those.
At Darlington Raceway last fall, he finished 20th and only scored 17 points.
In the 2025 Kansas Speedway playoff race, Logano was 21st but did score 24 points.
And of course, Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway can bring volatility, so who knows whether he could earn good finishes there? Stage points might be more attainable depending on his team’s pit strategy, as he and his Penske teammates (especially Ryan Blaney) can often work their way to the front of the field. For example, Logano finished third in stage one earlier this year at ‘Dega, even though he crashed out later on. And last fall there he earned 26 points after leading 35 laps, coming home 16th.
Now, I do acknowledge that the No. 22 team is often strong on the shorter racetracks, like Iowa, New Hampshire, Richmond and Phoenix. Logano’s also very good at World Wide Technology Raceway, earning top fives in all four races, including a win.
Plus, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix, he won in the last two even years in the fall (2022 and 2024).
Can even-year Logano win there again? He could, but it probably wouldn’t matter.
Why? Because it’s not the playoffs anymore. We’re in a new era, with The Chase providing a different approach for teams to get into championship contention. Points matter much more now, and unless Logano can show more pace and consistency throughout each upcoming race, there’s no way he can even be considered a contender at this point or in the postseason. – Joy Tomlinson
Thomas is in his second year covering NASCAR at Frontstretch. A Bay Area NASCAR fan for over 15+ years, he found his love for the sport through Jeff Gordon. He helps manage the 2-Headed Monster Column.
Thomas has enjoyed several trips to Sonoma Raceway in his time and currently covers college athletics in the Bay Area, writing about the California Golden Bears and doing play by play broadcasting.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.