Typically, the NASCAR Cup Series final four championship contenders refrain from making strong declarations.
Conventional wisdom states that you don’t give your opponents bulletin board material.
Then there is Joey Logano who says he wants to step on everyone else’s throat because he has teammate Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Tyler Reddick exactly where he wants them after the results of Saturday time trials.
2. Joey Logano
8. William Byron
10. Tyler Reddick
17. Ryan Blaney
“I feel like our car is strong,” Logano said after qualifying second for the championship race. “I think we did a good job in qualifying. We got them down now. We just have to put our foot on their throats. We feel pretty strong about our team, and these type of pressure situations we feel really solid about as far as our team in these moments.”
That’s a really strong quote, no?
“Yeah, that’s what we have to do, right,” Logano said. “We have them where we want them right now. We just have to keep them there.”
Logano won the championship here in 2022 and feels like his car is just as strong this weekend as it was then. His team has a degree of late season momentum and winning his way into the final four almost a month ago has allowed him, crew chief Paul Wolfe and their No. 22 team all this time to focus on just one race.
Phoenix.
“I feel like I’ve said it to you guys all week that I feel like we’ve had the upper hand, right,” Logano said.
“Now I feel like it’s coming to life a little bit more so than just talking about it seeing what just happened there.
“Yeah, I feel like we’re in a great spot. Obviously a lot of things can happen from here, but when you look at what we just accomplished today and getting a solid starting spot, that’s something that we should be proud of and also it’s exactly what we were trying to do.
“So, yeah, we feel confident. This race team has been doing this for a long, long time. What did I say to you guys? We are old men of the death. That’s what we are (laughing). We’ve all been doing this a long, long time. This group has been a group that’s been together for a long time, even before I was driving this one.
“So they understand each other really well. They work really well together. Our pit crew is in a similar boat. All but one of them has really been doing this for a long, long time. We feel solid about where we’re at. When you prepare for what’s coming your way, it’s easy to feel confident.”
Ryan Blaney
There’s good news bad news for Ryan Blaney.
The good news is that is he is the defending champion, who won the crown after starting 15th in this race last year. He also had the fastest car in practice and was fastest in five lap and 10 lap averages. The bad news is that he is going to have to do it from 17th on Sunday.
Blaney said in Media Day on Thursday the felt rushed on his way to the front last year.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Blaney said. “The approach our lap didn’t go well. I got free into one and kind of ruined it all. Couldn’t really make it back up. I was surprised honestly it ran what it did for how loose I got.
“I think our car is pretty good. Still nice to have a decent pit stall and things like that. So, yeah, just kind of take it how we can get it tomorrow and kind of work through the first handful of laps and try to start marching forward.
“Yeah, it’s pretty similar to last year. Hopefully it ends the same, and we can charge through the field. I think our race car was good enough to where hopefully we can make that happen.”
Tyler Reddick
Tyler Reddick had a mixed bag in his practice day that he put up only the 21st fastest overall lap but was 10th quick in 10 consecutive lap average.
Reddick then posted the 10th fastest lap in qualifying.
“I think the two are different, to be honest,” Reddick said. “Qualifying is something we’ve been able to do a pretty good job of here. Round one obviously we barely got in. We did just enough there.
“Yeah, that second round I wasn’t really expecting it to lose that much lap time from round one. When you’re the first car out there, you’re kind of going off of what you think you need to do. The last thing I would have thought is it would have slowed down that much across the board.
“Definitely wish I could have had that one back, but it was still really close between me and William. We’ll take it. We’ll have second best pit stall selection. So looking at how yesterday ended to at least get to that point coming into this was what we needed to do from that front.”
With that said, and everyone feels this way, they are chasing Logano on Sunday.
“Yeah, we’re right there with William, and Joey is a little bit further ahead obviously, but we had a pretty solid day out of this pit selection. For us trying to get the best pit stall was the No. 1 priority, and we still did a good job of that.”
William Byron
Byron was eighth in qualifying but also top-five in both 5 and 10 lap consecutive averages.
“I think we’re plenty capable,” Byron said. “I feel like we had some things to improve after practice, and I feel like we did those things. So big credit to everyone not only on our team, but back at the shop and Hendrick as a whole.
“I feel good about it. I feel like we’re in a ball game. So just have to put together a good first couple of stages, try to get towards the front, and then go from there.”
He also feels like he gave up a little bit in qualifying.
“Yeah, I do,” Byron said. “It sucks just didn’t quite get the second lap I wanted to there in the second round, so bummed about that, but I feel really good about our race car. Get first pit pick, which is huge. So excited for all those things.
“Just, yeah, trying to put together a good start to the race, but really it’s such a long race. It’s just going to be about trying to get to the finish and have what you need there.”
And like he said, he more than likely will choose the first pit box, which will be an advantage coming off pit road every time. That’s assuming they don’t choose a different box.
“The rules have changed a little bit on the lines, so we’ll see,” Byron said. “I think I just have to do a good job throughout the day rolling time, and I have the best pit crew out there. So it’s going to be a good advantage for us just doing our jobs. The pit stall hopefully is clean for us and just work from there, so yeah.”
Chevy shenanigans?
Not even a week after Chevrolet drivers Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, and their Richard Childress Racing and Trackhouse Racing teams, were penalized for race manipulation, Logano accused the manufacturer of continuing to disrupt the championship on Saturday.
He said several Chevrolet drivers blocked him in practice in the efforts to muddy up the data they were attempting to acquire.
Logano didn’t mince words about it.
“Yeah, they’ve obviously done some things throughout practice,” Logano said. “It’s pretty apparent of what went on last week, and it seems to be continuing at the moment. Yeah, we just continue our plan.”
Pit road issue
During the Truck Series championship race, several teams overshot their pit box, citing slippery conditions from the sand and dust in the desert or however NASCAR chose to clean the boxes before the race.
There is some concern about that for Sunday given how pit stops can make or break a championship on Sunday.
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Blaney said. “The first stop they were talking about it, and then they had a couple of really good camera shots from behind the pit wall of a couple of those guys leaving their stalls, and it was really slick. They were just in place spinning tires.
“I was, like, Man, I don’t remember them being super slick out here. It’s never jumped out to me watching the event like that. So, yeah, I don’t know what causes that.
“So, yeah, it’s something that we kind of it’s good to pay attention to that stuff just because you know your first run at your box is going to be the first stop of the race. You don’t want to blow through your stall, and it’s also nice to kind of understand, hey, if it’s super slick leaving, you kind of leave maybe a little bit differently than you normally would at a place that has more grip.
“It did seem a little bit slicker last night than what it has in the past, but I don’t know why it would be that way.”