What Might Have Been.

NASCAR Cup Series Joey Logano 2015

Some championship battles in sports will bring controvery. Something that either seems to always stir the pot weather it is broadcasted for everyone to see or behind the scenes. 2015 would definitely bring that for Joey Logano. He'd spend the beginning of his NASCAR Cup career with Joe Gibbs Racing and was even nicknamed "sliced bread" by Mark Martin who is one of the most legendary and most respected drivers ever. He would only win twice in his Gibbs years from 2009-2012. So the "sliced bread" driver was close to being forgotten as contact offers arose and if he chose to continue racing for Joe Gibbs he'd be demoted to the Xfinity series but Roger Penske decided to take a chance on you and offer him a ride in the number 22 Shell Pennzoil machine. It was an offer he could not refuse as he took it for 2013. He would make the chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and finish 8th in the standings. In 2014 he would score 5 wins 16 top 5s and 22 top 10s. He nearly won the championship that year but a disastrous final pitstop Logano would only finish 16th and 4th in the final standings. Even though in his time with Penske he would say that he thinks he was brought in the Cup series too soon but Gibbs did what he needed to do because he needed someone to replace 3 time champion Tony Stewart who drove for the team from 1999-2008. But Joey would say that he feels like there is just a better fit for him at Penske and it showed as when he joined Penske he just showed what he can REALLY do. So after a personal best 2014, 2015 would have high hopes for the Logono and company. And it started off brilliantly after the Hendrick Chevrolets of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Joey was the only consistent driver that could contend with them and with 15 to go he made his move with help from Clint Bowyer. However there is still work to be done to come out of Daytona victorious.

Success! Joey Logano wins NASCAR's biggest race and all the better with the win and your in championship format meant the 22 team is now know they are guaranteed a spot in the 2015 chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup! At Atlanta he'd pick up where he left off from the pole and dominated early on in the race but the field as he put it post race just got faster as Logano comes home 4th after leading 84 laps. In Las Vegas for the 222nd start for the driver of the 22 after starting in 2nd and lead 47 laps early on but with the adjustments to the car didn't quite work and along with 2 pit road penalties made him finish 10th. Phoenix he lead early on yet again but fell back to 8th. California provided a quiet 7th place, Martinsville was a strong race for the 25 year old leading 108 laps and ran up front all race. Even getting spun around by Michael Annett couldn't stop him from finishing 3rd. At the lone star state aka Texas he finished 4th. So to start off the year with a win in the biggest race in NASCAR, 5 top 5s and all top 10s in 7 races Joey Logano and the 22 team had speed and they are gonna be hard to beat. However the top 10 streak came to an end at Bristol after he and teammate 2012 champ Brad Keselowski wrecked together. The top 10 streak would end for Joey but unfortunately there was worse news in NASCAR. Fox pit reporter Steve Byrnes who was diagnosed with an early stage head and neck cancer in late August 2013. With the aid of chemotherapy he was able to recover and deemed cancer free in early 2014. Sadly later that year in October the cancer returned in October and passed away 2 days after the race at Bristol which was the 2015 Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up To Cancer. He was involved in NASCAR ever since 1985 and was loved and respected by the fans, drivers, teams, and colleagues for his work ethic, professionalism, and. His legacy will live on and never forgotten. At Richmond Clint Bowyer and Josh Wise did tributes with photos of Byrnes and his family on their cars for the show most go on. Joey Logano was the show being out front the first 94 laps but faded to 5th. At Talladega Logano wrecked early on resulting in a 33rd. Kansas the 22 was fast early on once again but faded a little bit off the pace. Things would be tougher after a pitstop just over a third of the way in when the gas man guy was over pit wall too soon. Normally the gas man is allowed to have his feet on the ground cause NASCAR doesn't want them to have to jump over the wall with a heavy gas can that can weight up to 94 lbs. Anyway Joey still charged his way up through the field only to have to do it all again after he straight up pitted when pit road was closed under caution in the middle stages. Plain weird mistake, but still in the last third of the race he drove all the way back up to 5th. The rollercoaster of results went down again at Charlotte starting 2nd to lead 17 laps to fall down to a mediocre 13th. He finished Dover 11th with another mediocre run. The shine of winning the biggest Cup race is starting to wear off, the new trend now has been leading laps and starting off strong but can't seem to finish sometimes regardless if it has been mistakes or bad luck, but one thing common is being unable to keep up with the track compared to the competition and that won't cut it when all the chips on the table by Homestead. Anyway the 22 got back on track at Pocono despite getting a speeding penalty early on he rallied back to a 4th place finish. A good finish yes but once again a error has made it on Logano's end would make their efforts have an extra amount of difficulty. In fact in the whole Penske organization knew they were slightly falling behind but with the summer heating up the crew chief of the 22 car Todd Gordon believes they have made progress. In Michigan and Sonoma Logano proved it by bringing his car home 5th in both races. While it is the 9th top 5 and 12th top 10 the one thing in common especially in the stretch from Pocono aka the tricky triangle, FAST paced track at Michigan to the road course Sonoma have all shown consistent speed throughout the races. Joey simply just finished around where he ran proving that the 22 was making progress and is on the right track. And speaking of right track we the next race is at Daytona where Logano started of the season right by winning the biggest race of NASCAR. Sadly he couldn't sweep the Daytona races after finishing 22nd. In the bluegrass state Kentucky Logano appeared to have winning speed for the first time in a while. True he has finished 3 of last 4 races in the top 5 but seemed like he was able to be a serious contender. Still he came up short in the end being the runner up. In Loudon 4th was the best finish available that day. Next up was the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Known in the NASCAR garage as a crown jewel racetrack and none know it better than Roger Penske who not only is a NASCAR team owner but is also owns cars in the Verison IndyCar Series and has won the Indy 500 16 times. Joey started of the race 2nd and in fact took the lead right at the start and lead the first 11 laps but needed to back off and get behind a car to remove debris from his nose in order to cool his car down. Now with a cooled down car he would continue on and in fact would use a little but of strategy to get the lead but got shuffled. Nothing to worry about though, he would get back up to the top 5. Now the finish comes around and restarts have been the name of the game and he actually put himself in position to win against his former team and teammate Kyle Busch. Crew chief Todd Gordon and bossman Roger Penske are encouraging to give it his best shot. A Cup win at the Brickyard is one of the few things Roger Penske the man known as "The Captain" hasn't accomplished in motorsports and it would mean the world to get a win here especially since his Xfinity car driven by Ryan Blaney was beaten on the final lap against Kyle Busch one day ago. Joey has been very good at restarts but Kyle Busch has been also, who shall win?