NASCAR Michigan preview: Joey Logano seeks to end recent skid, escape playoff bubble

It should’ve been a victory that essentially locked Joey Logano into the playoffs, erasing any concern that he wouldn’t have a chance to vie for the Monster Energy Cup Series championship later this season.

Instead, NASCAR officials found nonconforming rear suspension parts on the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Logano’s April 30 win at Richmond International Raceway was classified as encumbered, meaning while he still received credit for winning the Toyota Owners 400 he did not get the benefits that go along with it, therefore his playoff eligibility remained unsecured. Further penalties include the loss of 25 driver and owner points and crew chief Todd Gordon being suspended two races and fined $50,000.

The penalties issued were significant then and have only grown in scope since. After sitting fifth in points following the Richmond points deduction, Logano’s finished no better than 21st in the subsequent five races and fallen to 11th in the standings. He’s now the final driver provisionally qualified for the playoffs and just three points ahead of Matt Kenseth, the first driver out, entering Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1).

“It is on my mind,” Logano said Friday. “I would be lying if I said it wasn’t, but it isn’t something I am very concerned about. I feel like this team is strong enough to get through it. We just need to get through it, build momentum.”

Positioned squarely on the postseason bubble is an unfamiliar spot for Logano, who’s made the playoffs each season with relative ease since joining Penske in 2013 and seen his No. 22 team having established itself as one of NASCAR’s best. Twice in the past three years Logano’s advanced to the four-driver championship finale, falling just short each time of a career-first title.

But the speed that’s been a staple has vanished over the past five races, as has the execution. It isn’t one thing, Logano said, hindering the No. 22 team but “about 15 areas we think.”

“A lot of it is process of elimination,” he said. “I think there is a certain area we think we can get better, but it takes a lot of time to fix that.

“We are balancing our cars better and trying to get to where we can get into the corner better. That seems to be our biggest lack right now, the entry of the corners. We are trying to fix that.”

Whatever the culprit, the reality is another poor result on Sunday, and in all likelihood Logano will find himself on the wrong side of the cut line with 11 regular season races remaining. Not an insurmountable deficit, but a deficit nonetheless.

“A couple good races of scoring stage points and a great finish will put you right back to close to where we were,” Logano said.” We have to be able to string three or four solid races together like we know how to. We have strung 15-20 great races together before. It is nothing this team hasn’t done before. We are very strong. No one is pointing fingers. There is none of that going on. We just have to get through it as a team together.”

That record of success is what Logano is leaning on as he’s gone through this recent swoon. And if there is a track to key the rebound, Michigan represents an ideal venue.

In 2013, it was here he won his first race with Penske, and last year he started on the pole, led 138 laps and scored the win. Overall, Logano has 11 top-10 finishes in 16 starts at the high-speed, two-mile oval.

“Anytime you come to one of your best race tracks like here at Michigan, especially the way our last month-and-a-half has gone it is a confidence builder for sure,” Logano said. “We have been lacking a little speed, but this seems like the best race track for us to turn this around.”

Kyle Larson, who won the August Cup race at Michigan, starts on the pole and had the fastest 10-lap average speed in final practice. Logano qualified seventh for Sunday’s race, flashing consistent speed in both practice sessions Saturday; an encouraging start to the weekend, which had the Penske driver effusing optimism while trying to keep the situation in perspective.

“Someone said, ‘We aren’t curing cancer out there, we are just trying to make circles really fast.’ It is something we can fix. This team is strong. We have been through this stuff before.”