This year really feels like it could be a breakthrough for Joey Logano and his quest for a fourth championship. He already locked in his first win of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, coming from deep in the field, starting 27th and charging to the front in overtime. On top of that, he’s consistently been near the front with 11 top-10s and six top-5s in 34 races so far in 2025.

What makes this year stand out is that Logano isn’t just showing flashes; he seems locked in. With experience, momentum, and equipment all aligned, the pieces are there for a serious championship push. And now, coming from the horse’s mouth, he not only wants to win this one, but goes ahead to challenge Jimmie Johnson’s iconic record feat.

Logano eyes Johnson’s five-peat

At the Martinsville pre-race press conference, Joey Logano said, “Honestly, I would tell my kids, yeah, you can win every game. You can win every race. You have the opportunity to win all of them. Jimmy Johnson won five in a row, so I guess like he’s pretty good at that.”

Jimmie Johnson holds the record as the only driver to win five straight Cup titles from 2006 to 2010. His seven total championships tie him with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most ever. Logano sees that streak as proof that anything is possible if you believe.

He added, “I’m sure somebody told him that he can’t win all of them at some point, and he probably laughed and said, ‘Watch this,’ and he won five of them in a row. I just never have had that attitude, right?”

Johnson turned doubters into dust with that run. Logano wants the same fire, refusing to set limits even after three titles.

Logano kept rolling: “Just because you’ve won three in the past doesn’t mean you’re all set and you can just coast in the rest of your career. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to do that to my team, either, like my fans or my sponsors, I can win them all, like that’s the least.”

His third crown came in 2024, but Logano rejects any coast mode. Winning every chance is the goal, the bare minimum he owes everyone around him.

He explained, “I feel like I’m still a great driver. I’m a smarter driver than I was last year, right? You keep becoming smarter, the game changes, right? And you have to evolve, like that’s a challenging piece. There’s no doubt that it’s the cars changed. It’s a challenge, but the more experience you have, the smarter you will be, right?”

NASCAR keeps shifting with new cars and rules. Logano leans on years of lessons to stay sharp and ahead.

He finished: “You have to use that as an advantage, right? That’s kind of what I have as an advantage at the moment over the majority now. I’ve been doing it longer, and I’ve learned the hard way quite a few times that’s valuable.”

Time in the seat brings wisdom no rookie can match. Logano turns tough days into an edge, the same way Jimmie Johnson built his dynasty. That never-quit fire faces a test at Martinsville as Logano sits sixth in the Round of 8, 38 points below the cutline.

Logano blames regular season for playoff pressure

He needs a win Sunday or his title dream ends. Team Penske thrives in playoffs, but Logano admits the regular season left him short.

He said straight: “The playoffs are tough, and we’re in this position that we’re in because we didn’t do good enough during the regular season. That’s the bottom line. If we had 30-plus more playoff points, which some had, we’d be sitting there saying, ‘Boy, we could point our way in,’ even with having a mediocre first two races of the round. We’d still have a chance because all of those races matter.”

Extra points from a stronger regular run would give a cushion now. Logano’s 15.8 average finish this year trails his 2024 title mark of 17.1, the worst ever for a champ.

He added, “But we didn’t have a really good regular season, so now we’re put in a spot where we have to win. We’re not out. We still have a great chance, but we only have really one avenue of getting there. That’s the difference. That’s why we are where we are. It’s simple enough.”

One path remains: victory at Martinsville. Logano has finished top five there twice in the last five Xfinity 500 races and top ten the other three. Stage points help, but the checkers matter most.

Logano’s Johnson talk and playoff hole tie together. The same belief that he can win every race fuels his fight from behind. Experience sharpens the plan, but the regular-season gap demands a miracle Sunday. Win or go home, and Logano still sees the checkers in reach.