What’s Happening?

Joey Logano is sitting a dismal 26th in the points standings with 2 DNFs and only one top-10 finish. That’s a bad stat line for a two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion, and it’s the tail end of a worrying trend. What is going on with Joey Logano?

• After winning the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship, Joey Logano got off to a quick start in 2023, winning the 5th race of the season at Atlanta. However, it’s been downhill since as Logano has not won a race since (36 races), and he was bounced in the Round of 16 of the Playoffs.
• The 2024 season has started equally abysmally for Logano. He has enjoyed success on qualifying day, but, on race day, the speed did not translate. However, he is not the only Ford driver that is struggling.
• Fans are starting to get concerned about Joey Logano. He is continuing to struggle, and that struggle is now a trend.

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Bad Luck vs Lack of Speed

Sometimes, a struggling season can be primarily associated with bad luck rather than a drop in overall performance. Is this the case for Joey Logano?

Looking at the Daytona 500, Logano led the most laps before crashing. That crash was caused by contact that was out of his control. This race was mainly down to bad luck for Logano, but, leading 45 laps should have given him some optimism.

The next week at Atlanta, Logano was done late in stage two after another crash. This one was completely on him as he drifted up in front of Chris Buescher. Logano went on to finish 8 laps down in 28th position.

The next three races after that have not been great. Logano finished 9th at Las Vegas, but, that felt like a letdown after winning the pole. He crashed again at Phoenix after being a nonfactor all day. At Bristol, Logano fought for the stage two win, but, he faded late to finish 22nd.

Out of the five races this season, four of them were down to either Logano making mistakes or just poor performance. He only has 1 top-10 finish this season at Las Vegas, and he has finished 22nd or worse in every race aside from that.

If the car doesn’t have speed, Logano gets involved in a crash. If he is not involved in a crash, he does not have speed. This is a worrying trend that goes back to 2023 when failed to make it out of the Round of 16. He has also not won in over a year.

Something just is not clicking for Joey Logano, but, is his equipment the problem?

The Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Ford debuted the new Mustang Dark Horse this season, and the results have been underwhelming. As of this writing, only 3 Fords (Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, and Chris Buescher) are in Playoff position 5 races into the season, and Blaney is the only Ford in the top 10. Out of the bottom 10 in points amongst full-time drivers, 8 of them are Fords.

There have been flashes in the pan for Ford drivers at various points. For example, Keselowski and Buescher have back-to-back duel top-10s, and Ryan Blaney missed out on an Atlanta win by 0.003 seconds. However, when taking into account the entire body of work. Ford has been struggling.

The season is now 5 races old, and the Fords have seen every type of track NASCAR goes to aside from a road course. The performance just is not there, and it’s probably not helping Logano.

In fairness, Logano is still 26th in points, which is worse than both of his Team Penske teammates, Bkaney (4th) and Austin Cindric (20th). Logano is still the backmarker within his own race team.

Joey Logano is having a tough season, but, Ford as a whole is struggling as well. Still, Logano still needs to show improvement soon before he falls even further behind in points.