If you’re hedging a bet on someone to win Sunday’s race at Kansas, Joey Logano is about as safe of a bet as you can possibly make. Not that he’s guaranteed a win, of course. Far from it, in fact. But Logano comes into the weekend not only as a three-time winner at the 1.5-mile Kansas City track but also carrying the momentum of Sunday’s triumph at Darlington, where he went to Victory Lane for the first time at the Cup Series level. Logano also snapped a lengthy drought that extended to the early part of last season, and he bounced back from back-to-back disappointing finishes at Dover and Talladega, respectively.
“Such a huge recovery,” the Team Penske driver said after starting from the pole, scoring a stage win and leading 107 of 293 laps en route to victory at Darlington. “Last week (Dover) was the lowest of lows, and the week before that, we wrecked at Talladega, so to come out of Darlington and get the pole, get a stage win and then ultimately win the race at the end, I couldn’t be more excited about what we just did. The guys did an amazing job back here. The pit crew was great.”
Logano’s most recent win at Kansas came in the fall of 2020, but that was with the old Gen-6 Cup Series car that the current “Next Generation” car replaced at the beginning of the 2022 season. Nevertheless, Logano boasts a strong Kansas record that includes not only his trio of wins but also a pair of poles and 500 laps led. He might not win on Sunday, but all the stars certainly seem aligned in his favor.