Last weekend’s Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway exposed the harsh realities of the parity racing NASCAR has been promoting. It was a stale display of racing—not enough passes, no major changes in the top 10 positions, apart from William Byron and nothing in terms of drama. It’s fair to say, that parity racing took away short-track racing’s major selling points and replaced them with converter belt racing.

Denny Hamlin did lash out at NASCAR for not giving drivers enough to compete and make a difference in races, thanks to their identical race cars. Acknowledging the limitations of competing in almost identical race cars, Joey Logano has now sided with Hamlin while speaking on the SiriusXM Radio show. The Penske driver explained how none of the short-track racing factors came into play with the results, and how he could’ve won the race just by keeping his track position.

Joey Logano is concerned about the recent trend of short-track racing in NASCAR

Ever since NASCAR rolled out their new short track package this season at Phoenix, it has been a failed effort, according to many prominent drivers. The only exception was Bristol’s return to concrete, and that tire wear fest was not intended. It looked like a turning point in shaping short-track events for the better, but that idea was soon put to bed.

The races at Richmond and Martinsville once again didn’t prove to be decisive in delivering a thrilling race, which is often an expectation with short-track ovals. Apart from track position, there were no other dynamics or strategies in play during the Cook 400 race, which was explained well by Logano. “My car doesn’t have to change at all, my car can drive exactly the same as it was when it was 8th place or when we were in the lead. It’s the little, little things and over the course of 400 laps, that’s all it was.”

None of the traditional challenges of short-track racing were in play during the race, which allowed the drivers to maintain their position and secure a decent result. “You go from lap 1, there no like save your brakes, save your this, save your that. Like the spots going to matter because you’re not getting them back, we weren’t getting em back,” Logano further added.

Although Logano has aired out his concerns about bringing about changes to short-track racing, he will be content with the results he has been able to deliver so far.

The #22 Penske team has turned a corner after a disappointing start to their season

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Joey Logano was in talks of being a prominent contender to reclaim his throne as champion before the start of the season. Now that we have a clear picture of where the competition stands, it is fair to say, the Penske star has failed to deliver on his promise. In the first five starts, he only managed a single top-10 finish, which came at Vegas, and it was a concerning sign for him and his team.

Luckily, he seemed to have turned a corner and is looking to get back to his usual self. The road course race at COTA was a decent outing for the 33-year-old, and he soon followed it with his best performances of the season so far in the short track races. At Richmond, a late dramatic restart allowed him to grab the runner-up finish, while at Martinsville he finished P6. Thus gaining momentum and building on a good run of results, and this is exactly what the #22 team needs going forward in the season.

The result at Martinsville saw Logano jump five spots in the driver’s standings. He currently sits in 14th place and is now eyeing a win to secure his playoff berth.

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