Joey Logano weighs in as NASCAR switches | Sports News

A 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion beneath the now-defunct Playoff format, Team Penske’s Joey Logano could not have been amongst these calling for change, however he’s level-headed concerning the determination to ditch the Playoffs.

On Monday, NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell introduced at a press convention, joined by Hall of Famers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin as nicely as Penske’s Ryan Blaney, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, that the group’s three national collection can be returning to ‘The Chase.’

As such, the ultimate 10 races of the upcoming Cup Series season will, as it did between 2004 and 2013, resolve the championship winner as a consequence of the collective factors scored mixed with these acquired through their qualifying place during the 26-race common season.

The determination has largely gone down nicely with drivers previous and current, with Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch maybe essentially the most hesitant of the drivers to talk out concerning the change to this point.

Logano, although, appeared unfazed by the choice, even though he had clearly mastered the prior format. Speaking with reporters at North Wilkesboro Speedway during a check session, the 35-year-old mentioned, “Honestly, I’m OK with whatever they tell us because the rules are the same for everybody, just like they were before.

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“Everyone started with the same set of rules. We all knew what we had to do to try to win a championship. Now, we have a different set of rules with all of us starting at zero again, and we have to change the way that we go win the championship.

“The strategy of how you race and prepare and all those things is different. There’s no doubt it’s very different. You just have to kind of go back to the drawing board and do something else. That’s fine. I don’t really care.

“Personally, I was one of the rare people that liked the old one just from a fan perspective. I enjoyed it, but if the majority doesn’t like that, then, sure, we’ll change it and we’ll go race another way and that’s OK with me, too. That’s kind of where I’m at with it.”

Like Busch, Logano has expertise competing in ‘The Chase’ format, having made his debut in 2008 and reached the ultimate cut in 2013, ending eighth, earlier than the Playoffs had been launched the next season.

The 37-time race winner wasn’t sure whether or not he believed it was “fair to say it’s easier or it’s harder” to win in ‘The Chase’ format, happening so as to add, “I mean, it’s hard to win a championship no matter any way you look at it, but it’s different. There’s no doubt it’s different.”

What will change, from Logano’s perspective, is that tough outings will imply that a lot more in the broader scheme, whereas performing constantly will “pay off more.”

“If you’re 12th or so going into the Playoffs, I don’t think you can win it from that far back,” he mentioned. “You’re gonna be 70-plus points back without knowing the real numbers, and you’re gonna have to make that up against the best cars in 10 weeks. Boy, that’s gonna be tough. That’s gonna take a lot to make that happen.

“You’re gonna have to be really, really, really good, really special to do that, so that just tells me that you’ve got to be pretty solid throughout the regular season to make sure you’re within that top five or so when the Playoffs start.”

Logano admitted that beneath this format, “the game has changed,” believing it is going to alter how drivers race and, due to this fact, the product on show for followers, later including that with elimination races now a factor of the previous, there can be fewer examples of “teams and drivers doing desperate things.” Exactly how nicely this in the end goes down with NASCAR’s fanbase, solely time will inform.