Joey Logano entered the 2025 Cup season as the reigning champion, carrying Team Penske’s hopes for back-to-back titles into his 17th full-time campaign. Through his first 12 races, Logano’s No. 22 Mustang scored one win, along with three top-10s, finishing 292 laps with an average finish of 17.25. It was a year shaped by defensive resilience. Logano helped all three Team Penske cars finish in the top five at Richmond’s Cook Out 400, a weekend that signaled their championship credibility and quelled whispers of a “fraud championship.” With ambition and momentum rising, Logano’s eyes shifted to a sport he called unmatched in its stakes.

The playoffs, Logano says, “It’s the most grueling, maybe most unenjoyable time of the year. But it’s also the time that has the biggest reward, and the time you get to show up and show what you and your team are made out of and make big moments.” Indeed, the Team Penske trio, with Logano alongside Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric, remains the favorite, with their organization’s experience before the playoff grid offering both hope and pressure. As the elimination rounds loom, Logano’s comments underscore that the path to Phoenix is not just about raw speed, but the most demanding momentum, consistency, and mental fortitude required, making every round feel like a sprint to the next checkpoint.

Joey Logano’s subtle message to rivals

In a recent interview with FOX Sports‘ Bob Pockrass, when asked about his championship blueprint despite having a mediocre season so far, Logano answered candidly. “Well, you’ve been around 10th to 12th in points all year, so do you have everybody where you want them?” asked Pockrass, to which Logano replied laughing, “Apparently. I guess.” The 2025 stat line indeed shows Logano sitting around the low-teens in the points standings with one win at Texas, and a handful of top-10s, a profile that makes midseason lineup conversations inevitable as crew chiefs and engineers hunt marginal gains and reliability fixes. Logano’s team has been dissecting every little misstep, especially after nights when tire strategy or aero balance cost them track position, as seen in post-race breakdowns after Richmond and Daytona. That week-to-week balancing act is precisely why questions about a repeatable championship blueprint come up.

“I mean, is it the same blueprint every year in winning the championship?” Pockrass clarified. And Logano’s answer was simple yet secretive, asking, “As far as how do you get through the playoffs? Like each round? Yeah, I mean, our blueprint is pretty much week to week.” The season-long grind and the distinct, ruthless math of the 10-week playoff gauntlet are two different conversations. Logano has lived on both sides. His 2018, 2022, and 2024 title runs were marked by different paths to October glory: dominant regular-season points in some years, clutch late wins in others. Historically, Logano‘s championship teams have emphasized maximizing stage points early in the year while refining setups for elimination-round tracks, a strategy that shows up in his team’s aggressive stage-point gambits and focused testing sessions on tracks that later host playoff rounds. That leads to the more specific follow-ups about whether the team approaches each playoff round with a distinct plan.

“It’s not anything really complicated or anything that I wouldn’t even talk about. Everybody kind of knows it. It’s just kind of one week at a time. We’ll see what we’ve got to do next week,” he said in a cryptic comment. That week-to-week mentality also reflects the data realities of the Next Gen era, where small aero differences, tire falloff, and variable weather can flip a favorite into an also-ran overnight. Teams that treat the playoffs as a succession of unique problems, such as treating Martinsville‘s braking as a different puzzle to Sonoma’s handling, are often the ones who survive. Logano’s 2024 title and other champions’ runs are littered with examples where fundamentals beat flash. Clean pit-road disciplines at Talladega, error-free fuel mileage gambles at Charlotte, and perfectly timed tire calls at Texas all contributed to Team Penske’s fine-tuning and smooth functioning. In 2025, those weekly micro-wins mattered.

A rally-style rebound after a midseason spin at Daytona, a tire-management masterclass at a hot Texas, and a crew-perfect stop that gained him a place in the closing laps, all of which reflect that weekly approach paying off in tangible race outcomes. For Logano, the week-to-week philosophy is not resignation; it’s a deliberate strategy to maintain focus and resilience when the margin for error is microscopic. And when the playoffs arrive, teams that have built that habit of iterative improvement are the ones most likely to find a path to the title.

Why overlooking Joey Logano could be costly

Joey Logano’s Daytona run ended in heartbreak after spinning from the lead late in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, dropping to 27th despite leading 27 laps. The setback added to a season of mixed results, where the three-time Cup Series champion has only one win while sitting 12th in points. Yet, his record, especially his late surges in 2023 and 2024, suggests that counting him out may be premature for his competitors.

Team Penske‘s President of NASCAR Operations, Michael Nelson, made that clear in his post-race comments, warning rivals not to underestimate the No. 22 driver. “Overlooking Joey Logano is a pretty big mistake. And, you know, he’s obviously really good, and you saw that again tonight; he had put himself in position and basically ran up front all night,” he said. “Overlooking Joey Logano is a pretty big mistake. And, you know, he’s obviously really good, and you saw that again tonight; he had put himself in position and basically ran up front all night.”

The Daytona spin, while costly, also highlighted Logano’s speed and ability to lead at the front, reminders of why his playoff resilience is so respected. With the Round of 16 beginning at Darlington on August 31, Roger Penske’s confidence in his driver underscored a recurring theme: Logano’s quiet seasons often end in loud statements.