“We ended the season with 5 wins”: Joey Logano’s championship winning crew chief talks about their ‘hard to believe’ season
Paul Wolfe, Joey Logano's crew chief, touched upon the recently concluded NASCAR Cup Series season. Wolfe termed the season 'hard to believe' and opened up about how the #22 team turned their season around.
Team Penske's #22 team had a massive turnaround this year as they registered three victories in the regular season despite starting on an underwhelming note. They claimed their first victory of the season through Logano in the NASCAR All-Star Race in May.
The above victory at North Wilkesboro came in the fourth month of the competition and in the 15th race (out of 28 regular season races). In the next 13 regular season races, Roger Penske's #22 team claimed two more wins before winning the Las Vegas playoff race and the Championship race at Phoenix.
Wolfe reflected on the team's performance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio:
"It just shows the fight we got in this team, the experience it's been and up and down here, right? We've had a lot of struggles at certain tracks, but we've also shown a lot of speed at times, you know, and I think, you know, if you count the All-Star, we've ended the season with five wins, which l think seems hard to believe for some people."
"We have had struggles at times but it just shows that we never give up. We have a lot of depth, and Joey's a great leader and does a good job at keeping everyone motivated during those times when we were struggling." (0:07-0:32)
Team Penske had a season to remember as two of their drivers finished 1-2 in the driver's standings. On top of that, all three of their drivers qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs. Among them, Joey Logano and Wolfe's #22 team outperformed the #12 and #2 driver's teams.
Joey Logano on what made Team Penske stand out from the rest
Following his Cup Series Championship victory at Phoenix, Joey Logano touched upon the clutch factor of Team Penske and what set them apart from the rest. The #22 driver stated that they handled the pressure of the playoffs better than others.
"It's not the parts and pieces of the cars, they're all the same," Logano said. There's not like you're gaining an advantage there. It's people who put the cars together. It's little details that matter. It's the pressure of the playoffs. I think that's maybe the biggest thing."
Logano claimed the 2024 Cup Series Championship ahead of his teammate Ryan Blaney. The #22 driver started the race in second place, won Stage 1 of the race, and led the final 60-odd laps to claim his second Cup Series victory in three years.
This was Team Penske's third Championship in three years and third owner's title. Joey Logano won the championship in 2022, followed by Ryan Blaney in 2023, and Logano again in 2024.