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Logano had a bit of a puzzling season last year. He'd only post one victory and 17 Top-10 finishes en route to an early exit from the NASCAR playoffs. The Penske Racing star would end the campaign a distant 12th in the driver standings, a six-season low mark. A bit of a pattern has emerged with this driver and team. Logano has established an on-again-off-again pattern where he has one good season and the following a bit of an off season. Given this information, it's a bit easier to be optimistic for Logano and the No. 22 Ford team in 2024. Could he rebound to the four-win, 17 Top-10 finish marks of 2022? Quite possibly. That campaign rewarded Logano with his second-career Cup Series championship. We believe Logano and crew chief, Paul Wolfe, will find a bit of their old groove back. Whether that leads to championship contention is yet to be seen, but a more consistent and dangerous Logano should be expected in 2024.
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series champion made the most of his opportunities during the playoffs. Logano would win two of his four victories last season in those playoffs to secure the championship. Despite some inconsistency earlier last season (just 17 Top-10 finishes, his lowest total since 2017), Logano rose to the occasion late in the campaign and will surely carry that momentum into the new season. The Penske Racing star is now a two-time Cup Series champion and he's averaged three wins per season over the last nine years. Logano has established himself as a year-in-year-out championship contender. He's locked into a good position with the No. 22 Ford team and just signed a long term extension in 2022 that will keep him in place for a good while. Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe have a good handle on this new generation stock car and it will show in the upcoming season.
With the departure of Brad Keselowski from Penske, Logano becomes the senior driver and the primary focus of this three-car stable going forward. The driver of the No. 22 Ford suffered a bit of a swoon in 2021and posted just one victory and 19 Top-10 finishes for the campaign. Those were Logano's lowest totals since 2017 and a noticeable downturn from his previous three seasons. Logano will look to break back into the Top 5 of the driver standings in 2022. The new Next-Gen car is a bit of an unknown, but the 31-year-old driver should have little difficulty adapting. He and crew chief Paul Wolfe now have two full seasons together as a duo. Logano should start building more chemistry with Wolfe in the upcoming season. The pressure to win multiple races and contend for the championship will be high, but Logano should respond to the call.
Logano's last season fit right in the slot of his typical performance over the past three seasons. The Penske Racing star grabbed three victories and 21 Top-10 finishes, but most importantly was hot at the end of the season. A little more week-to-week consistency and it could have well been Logano hoisting the trophy last November in Phoenix. Still, the strength of the No. 22 Ford team is undeniable, and its ability to dominate at certain stretches of the season obvious. Logano remains paired with Paul Wolfe as crew chief for the this year, and they'll look to build on the chemistry they formed in their first season together. The duo seemed to adapt well to the lack of practice and qualifying and posted one win and four Top-3 finishes in the final five races of 2020. That bodes well with the short off-season and new campaign rapidly approaching.
Logano was unable to successfully defend his 2018 championship last season, but he still had a pretty good campaign. He led the Penske Racing No. 22 Ford to two victories and 21 Top-10 finishes. Despite ending the season on a four-race Top-10 streak, Logano would get bounced from the playoffs after Phoenix and wind up fifth-place in the final driver standings. He'll refocus and gear up for another championship run in 2020 with Todd Gordon still calling the shots from atop the war wagon. While Logano's chances are a bit longer than the drivers above him in these rankings, he still has some homerun potential. A season of 2-3 victories and 22-24 Top-10 finishes seems reasonably in reach. As to Logano's championship chances, that will boil down to his end of season performance during the Chase for the Cup.
The 2018 champion was the hottest driver down the stretch of last season, and he would claim the rewards walking away the crown at Homestead. Logano grabbed two of his three victories during the 10-race Chase, including the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It was quite an accomplishment winning his first championship. On a larger level, it was the Penske Racing star's fourth season in the last five with at least three wins and 22 Top-10 finishes. In a lot of ways Logano has surpassed teammate, Brad Keselowski, as the top gun at Penske Racing. Now with NASCAR's top achievement in tow, and returning the No. 22 Ford team in its entirety, Logano will set out to defend his title in 2019. Crew chief Todd Gordon and Logano are at the top of their game, but it will still be a tall order given the competitiveness of the series and the newness of the Ford Mustang.
After averaging nearly five victories per season over the previous three years, 2017 must have felt like a train wreck to Logano and the No. 22 team. They managed only one win, and it was encumbered by a rules violation. The result was that Logano missed the Chase for the Cup for the first time in five years. He'll look to erase those concerns with a strong 2018 campaign. For all his inconsistencies the Penske Racing star still managed 17 Top-10 finishes, which were a five-season low. He's poised to rebound in a major way this season. Todd Gordon returns atop the tool box to call the shots and get Logano back into championship contending form. We should look at last season as more of a blip on the radar screen, and possibly a draft day devaluation in fantasy leagues this year. That means most could get Logano on the cheap and reap the rewards.
Over the past three seasons you would be challenged to find a more dominant driver than Logano in NASCAR's top division. He's combined to win 14 races and average 25 Top-10 finishes per season during this three-year span. The Penske Racing star has been a serious threat to win the championship in each of those campaigns, but as a function of the Chase format, he's not been rewarded yet for this excellence. Logano came the closest to winning the championship yet last season. He was within the final 10 laps at Homestead before his fortunes turned sour. From a fantasy racing standpoint, Logano has eclipsed Kevin Harvick as the top stat-grabbing driver in NASCAR. It's just a matter of time before the driver of the No. 22 Ford hoists the championship trophy.
If you thought Logano's 2014 season was great, you had to be really impressed with his 2015 campaign. The Penske Racing star claimed career-highs with six wins, 22 top-5 and 28 top-10 finishes. He was relevant in the Chase picture right up until Phoenix where he was eliminated. Just a couple seasons ago Logano was a young second-tier driver in terms of fantasy racing, but he's taken his game to an all-new level. Penske has given him the equipment and brain-trust to succeed, and he's doing it every weekend of the season. Logano will once again pair with crew chief Todd Gordon and keep this No. 22 team pointed towards their first championship. If the breaks fall Logano's way it could easily happen in the upcoming season.
At times it’s difficult to remember that Logano is just 22-years-old. After five years of unrealized potential at Joe Gibbs Racing he was released at the end of last season. During his time at JGR he only won two victories in 147 Sprint Cup Series starts. Logano can be much better than this, and the change of scenery could help in that regard. He moves to championship stable Penske Racing and the No. 22 Ford team. Logano will be paired with crew chief Todd Gordon. The 14-year veteran crew chief should be a stabilizing presence for the young Logano. While we don’t expect the No. 22 team to take off immediately, Logano and Gordon should start to work on the chemistry needed to one day be a multi-race winner and championship contending driver. We should certainly see some glimpses of this potential in the upcoming season.
