Latest news with #Logano
11 hours ago
- Automotive
NASCAR's Cup Series to debut In-Season Challenge as $1 million backdrop to points race for title
HAMPTON, Ga. -- The debut of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge in Saturday night's Cup Series race in Atlanta generated differing opinions and expectations from drivers. After all, there's a points race to attend to. Every team's top priority is qualifying for the playoffs and trying to win the championship. Some drivers acknowledge they simply haven't paid attention to the new race within the race. Joey Logano says he sees no reason to view the new tournament as a distraction. 'If there's something to win, you want to go win it,' Logano said Friday before winning the pole for Saturday night's race in his Team Penske Ford. Denny Hamlin is the No. 1 seed in the 32-driver In-Season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament. Chase Briscoe, who held off Hamlin for his first win for Joe Gibbs Racing last week at Pocono Raceway, is the No. 2 seed. A $1 million prize awaits the winner as part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT. Briscoe said Friday he felt 'definitely a sigh of relief, you know, just a weight off your shoulders' following last week's win. He said that sense of relief was shortlived. 'I'm expected to win multiple races, not just one,' Briscoe said. 'It's a sense of relief, but also more pressure because now they know you can win.' NASCAR hopes the tournament generates mid-season interest. The single-elimination format cuts the field to 16 at Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four at Dover and the final two at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Many drivers expect their interest in the tournament will increase after Saturday night's race. 'I think some of the drivers have been kind of dismissive over the bracket challenge,' said Brad Keselowski, who enters the race No. 30 in the points standings and in need of a win in Atlanta to earn a playoff spot in his RFK Racing Ford. 'I think it'll become a lot more real, whether it be for the drivers or for the media or the fans, as it progresses into the later rounds over the next few weeks,' Keselowski said. Added Ricky Stenhouse, who is 24th in the points race, of the new tournament: 'It's cool. I think after this weekend you'll have a little better idea of what you have. Our main goal in Atlanta is winning and getting into the playoffs.' Team Penske claimed four of the top five qualifying positions and Ford claimed all of the top five spots. Logano was first at 178.960 mph, tying Josh Berry, who drives for Wood Brothers but has a technical alliance with Team Penske. Ryan Blaney qualified third and Austin Cindric was one spot back for Team Penske, while Ryan Preece, in another Ford for RFK Racing, was fifth. 'It definitely helps at the start for sure,' Logano said. 'Being at the front and controlling the race is the thing for sure.' Briscoe is facing No. 31 seed Noah Gragson in the first bracket. He says it's a difficult matchup, in part because 'he's actually probably my best friend on the circuit … and my son's favorite driver.' Briscoe said his 3-year-old son, Brooks, thinks of Gragson 'like that uncle that just you take your kid to, and he has Pop-Tarts and ice cream and everything else when he's with them.' Added Briscoe: 'Hopefully I'll win. If not I'll never here the end of it from Noah or my son.' Briscoe posted a photo on his X account of his son's bracket. The photo shows the smiling Brooks holding a bracket with his father's No. 19 winning every round of the tournament. Chase Elliott has a special paint scheme on his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet that was designed by 11-year-old cancer patient Rhealynn Mills. Elliott chose Mills' design to highlight his foundation's efforts to raise money for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Elliott said the 'Design to Drive' program has raised $500,000 for the children's hospital. 'The only bad thing is I feel like we've crashed every time we've done it,' Elliott said, adding his sponsor, NAPA Auto Parts, deserved credit 'for giving up the car' so the paint scheme could instead feature Mills' design. EchoPark Speedway is the new name for the track that was still known as Atlanta Motor Speedway in February when Christopher Bell won while leading only the final lap in overtime. It's the home track for Elliott, from Dawsonville, Georgia, and he acknowledged seeing the name change and the new green paint 'was different for me. I think it's fine.' Ryan Blaney is the favorite (+800) to win the race, per BetMGM Sportsbook. Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, each at +1000, were next.
NBC Sports
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Atlanta Cup starting lineup: Joey Logano wins pole as Fords dominate qualifying
HAMPTON, Ga. — Joey Logano will start on the pole for Saturday night's Cup race at EchoPark Speedway, as Fords took the top eight spots in the 40-car field. He claimed the top starting spot with a lap of 178.960 mph. It is Logano's first pole of the season and 32nd of his Cup career. MORE: Cup starting lineup For the second Atlanta race in a row, Team Penske and its affiliate, Wood Brothers Racing, grabbed the top four starting positions. Dustin Long, Josh Berry, who drives for the Wood Brothers, will start next to Logano on the front row. Berry posted the same lap time as Logano but Logano got the pole because ties are broken by car owner points. Logano's car ranks higher than Berry's car in the owner standings. Team Penske's Ryan Blaney will start third after a lap of 178.937 mph, and teammate Austin Cindric qualified fourth with a lap of 178.626 mph. Ryan Preece, who drives for RFK Racing, qualified fifth at 178.092. He was followed by teammate Brad Keselowski (177.960 mph), Cole Custer (177.949) and Zane Smith (177.920). Alex Bowman (177.675) will start ninth as the top Chevrolet in qualifying. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe qualified 10th with a lap of 177.635 mph and is the top Toyota. The green flag for Saturday's race is scheduled to wave at 7:19 p.m. ET on TNT and TruTV
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Nascar driver Joey Logano picks his brand deals
Joey Logano is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. That means there are a lot of companies that would like him to be a spokesperson for their products. So how does he choose which deals to do? Find out in the video above. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How Nascar driver Joey Logano picks his brand deals
Joey Logano is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. That means there are a lot of companies that would like him to be a spokesperson for their products. So how does he choose which deals to do? Find out in the video above. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Joey Logano praises NASCAR for "stepping out of our comfort zone"
As NASCAR takes on Mexico City this weekend, three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano spent a few minutes speaking exclusively with Luis Ramírez in preparation for the event. Despite failing to win at any road course race in roughly a decade, the Team Penske driver is looking forward to this weekend's unique race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The event also presents several unknowns as it's a track most drivers in the field have never seen before — and Cup cars have never raced here until now. Advertisement "We'll have to wait and see ... It's obviously a lot of unique things, a lot of new things, for all of us to try and figure out and overcome," said Logano. "You know, not just the race track being new, but all of us being south of the border for us is very new here in Mexico. It's amazing the whole sport moved like this. Like, how many trucks have come down here and set up our race for everyone here in Mexico? It's really exciting. It's pretty impressive, to see it all come together, too. 'This has obviously been a lot of work for everyone at NASCAR. The teams, the truck drivers all had to put a lot into this. It's going to be a great event. I'm excited about that. And like you said, we gotta figure out the race itself." Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford It may sound unbelievable, but this weekend is the first time in 67 years that NASCAR has held a points-paying Cup race outside of the United States. Though a handful of exhibition races were held in Japan and Australia in the 1980s and 1990s, this might be a real turning point. Advertisement Officials have indicated that Mexico could be the beginning of some real international expansion by the top level of the sport, but how does the reigning champion feel about more races beyond the USA? "I think this definitely is stepping out of our comfort zone and when you do that, you usually grow and see other opportunities that come along with that so I think this is a good start," said Logano. "Lord knows where we go from here. I don't know. I think if this is a great success -- and it seems so far it has been going very well -- but if this can be successful, then yeah, we can pick up and move to some different places. Mexico made good sense to be able to do this. The fans are very excited about us being here. You can drive the trucks here. You start going to other countries, you got to start figuring out how to fly things or put them on boats and that changes the game again. So this is a good step in the right direction. No road course ace Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford As mentioned, Logano doesn't have the best record at road courses. Only one of his 37 Cup wins came at a road course, and that was Watkins Glen back in 2015. Nonetheless, Logano is one of the most successful drivers in the sport and is the only active driver with more than two titles, so why has it been so hard for him to adjust to road course racing? Advertisement "That's a great question," laughed Logano. "If I knew the answer, I would have done it by now. Just, I think road course races -- I grew up racing short track ovals. That's what my roots are so you feel at home doing that. The road courses...I feel more and more comfortable as we do them more in NASCAR these days, but yeah, I just think it takes a lot of things to all come together." Threat of rain NASCAR Mexico City race logo NASCAR Mexico City race logo And if attempting to learn to a new road course wasn't difficult enough, Logano and the other 36 Cup drivers in the field will likely have to deal with some rain showers as well. Advertisement "Everything else is different, might as well add some water to the equation," said Logano in response to the questionable weather forecast. "But it'll be fine. Hopefully, it doesn't pour. We'll race out there in wet conditions, but I don't think we're gonna be out there in rainy conditions. Hopefully, the weather holds off enough to where it's just a little shower and we can go out there and race." The NASCAR Cup Series has six sets of wet-weather tires on hand (per team) and has even experimented with racing on damp ovals in recent years, in addition to road course races. To read more articles visit our website.
