"I’m going to race the way people race me": When Joey Logano justified his win-at-all-costs mentality

Joey Logano is one of the fiercest racers in the NASCAR Cup Series field, a reputation he has earned over the past decade for his aggressive moves to snatch race leads. One such instance was at the Kansas Speedway in 2015, where he clashed with Matt Kenseth and shared his mindset of not feeling any remorse, even if the Team Penske driver might have felt that he had been treated wrongly on the race track.

The reigning Cup Series champion is known for its on-track battles with rivals in the field. Moreover, his tactics had seemingly strained his relationships with rivals, but Logano remained unaffected.

Logano had won the opening round at the Daytona 500 in 2015 and was already well cemented for a playoff berth for the end of the season. Despite this, he spun Matt Kenseth with five laps to go, as the 53-year-old had initially shown him the wall when the No. 22 car tried to overtake him.

This took away the potential victory from the then-No. 20 driver, but Joey Logano remained stern on his stance and asserted his ambition to win, even if he had to pay a high cost for it, via FOX Sports:

"NASCAR does the rules. I just drive the race car. NASCAR makes the rules, and we play by them. There is no rules when it comes to the way we race each other and the way we’re going to race hard, and I’m going to race the way people race me, and I expect the same back."

On the other hand, Kenseth soon took his revenge at Martinsville Speedway later in the year by taking out the Team Penske driver in the final stages of the playoffs, seeding him out of title contention.

Meanwhile, Joey Logano continued with the same mindset and went on to win three Cup Series titles in 2018, 2022, and 2024 with Team Penske.

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Joey Logano opens up on his plans about NASCAR and Team Penske

Joey Logano (L) and Team Penske owner Roger Penske (R) - Source: Imagn

After years of struggles with Team Penske, Joey Logano eventually flourished to become a championship winner. He is also the reigning Cup Series champion and made his 600th race start in the series at Dover Speedway, before the Brickyard 400.

With him having a myriad of achievements under his belt, questions about the 35-year-old's potential retirement were raised, and he shared ahead of the Dover race how he will remain in the game as long as he judges himself fit to win races, via fayobserver.com:

"I always say as long as I can win. I really feel like that’s the standard for me. I love racing, but I really love winning a lot more... As soon as I feel like I’m a drag on the team and I’m not bringing anything to the table anymore, whether that’s on the racetrack or off the racetrack, that’s when I need to get out of the way at that point. I want to see Roger Penske and his race team and the people that are there be successful."

Joey Logano sits 12th in the regular season standings and would be hoping to make a move in the playoffs in the second half of the year.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam