As Rumors Rumbled Logano Raised The Performance Bar

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As Rumors Rumbled Logano Raised The Performance Bar

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It was easy to see that Joe Gibbs Racing’s Joey Logano was on a mission this past weekend at Pocono Raceway.

The 21-year old native of Connecticut had something to prove and drove his orange-and-white Toyota as if he had decades of Sprint Cup experience under his belt.
　

Some are pointing to the headlines that have filled the websites over the past month as fuel for Logano's resurgence. Give any driver notice that his ride may be in jeopardy and success has a way of coming to the forefront.
　

You see, in a scenario not of his doing, Logano found himself being mentioned in the same sentences with Carl Edwards, the man who’s been in the headlines recently.

Edwards is the first major domino in what's been called “Silly Season.” It’s the time of year when drivers are rumored to be leaving to go to other teams. Some of the talk linking certain drivers to teams sounds, well, silly.
 

There was nothing silly about the Edwards rumors, as a move to JGR made perfect sense. The end of Edwards’ contract with Roush-Fenway Racing would come at season’s end with no strings attached. He was free to look.

Since the start of the season, he’s been leading the points standings, or very close to it, and is a favorite to unseat Jimmie Johnson as champion. As it turned out, the offer RFR put on the table will keep Edwards in the camp for years to come.
 

So how did all of this become Logano's problem?

Edwards looked set to fill the seat of the No. 20 Toyotas Logano’s driven over the past two seasons. For him, that could have meant having to sit on the sidelines or drop back to a fulltime Nationwide Series ride.

Had such a scenario taken place, there wouldn't have been anything personal against Logano at JGR but rather, a chance to get a seasoned veteran in Edwards with possible increased sponsorship to boot. It was all business and nothing more. Still, Logano would have been the odd man out.
 

For a driver in such an undesirable situation, there’s nothing left to do but to perform while his name is still decaled on the car’s roofline.

Usually one of two outcomes will occur; either he performs well enough to restore faith among team members, owner and sponsor or he uses the remaining races to audition for the next available top-flight ride when other driver dominoes fall.
　

“It’s in the back of your mind,” Logano said of the rumored change. “Obviously, it’s not in your mind when you’re out there racing and you get in a race car. That is your time to just say, ‘The heck with everyone saying it.’ You are just driving.

“That’s nice, but when you’re watching TV and you are seeing little things come up on the screen, and this and that, it’s like, ‘How do you not think about that because it’s right there in front of you?’ But, at the same time, it’s like I said before. If your owners are behind you and saying its all rumors what do you have to worry about really?”

  At the height of the rumor mill that churned at Indianapolis two weeks ago, Logano had no choice but to drive his tail off in hopes of building a rally that could make him the turnaround story of the season.
 

In the first 11 events of the season, Logano's best finishes were a 10th at Talladega Superspeedway and 11th at Richmond. The other nine were finishes in the top 30.

Since the 600-mile event at Charlotte in late May, Logano and crew chief Greg Zipadelli set out to build an impressive portfolio to counter all the rumors of change that flooded the garage area. And it was working.
 

Logano finished third at CMS, 23rd at Kansas, 11th at Pocono, 18th at Michigan, sixth and a pole at Sonoma, Calif., 14th at Kentucky, fourth at Loudon, 25th at Indy and 26th at the second Pocono race.

Of those races, the finishes at Kansas, Indy and Pocono didn't tell the true story. Logano was strong in those events, especially Pocono, where he won his second pole of the season and led 44 of the 56 laps he’s led this season. Another great finish was in the making had a cut tire not send him to pit road late in the race.
 

Logano has done a nice job of gaining positive results on the track over the past two and a half months.
 

“It’s a really big deal,” Logano said. “Obviously, there’s been a lot of rumors around our team lately, but at the same time I don’t know if everyone has realized how good we’ve been doing lately. The last six or seven races we’ve done a good job.
 

“At Indy I felt like we were going to have a good finish there and strategy just didn’t go our way. There’s not much you can do about that. We’ve been doing a good job lately and we’ve been building a lot of momentum and as we keep doing that, eventually a win is going to happen. I think the confidence in the whole team is definitely up right now, especially in me.

“That’s what brings wins on, I think, is knowing you can do it. I think it helps out a lot."
 

There were plenty of reasons to worry, but Logano decided to not believe anything until someone in the Gibbs family sat him down for a heart-to heart conversation. Fortunately for him, it didn’t come.
 

“As far as I knew they were just rumors,” Logano said. “Until my boss - Joe (Gibbs, team owner) or J.D. (Gibbs, team president) - tell me I’m not driving, that’s when I know it.

“What was I really going to ask them? I just focused 100 percent like I’ve been doing throughout my whole career and try to make myself the best race car driver I can and try to help my team out and do whatever I can. It’s been paying off lately.
 

“You go through these ups and downs - I learned a lot throughout this last down we had at the beginning of the season. There is definitely a lot more to it than I thought there was and I learned a lot about that.”
 

Strong performances will keep Logano off the “Silly Season” radar.

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