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Joey Logano smiles prior to a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sunday, May 25, 2025, in Concord, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

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LONG POND — When he won his third NASCAR Cup Series championship last season, Joey Logano cemented his status as one of the best in the sport and a future Hall of Famer. He is one of only 10 drivers with at least three Cup titles.

His legacy, though, is something he doesn’t think about.

“I moreso care about the growth of the sport and the legacy of the sport,” Logano said Saturday at Pocono Raceway, where he will compete in The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.COM. “That’s what I care about the most because somebody did that for me. I don’t think about my legacy as much as I want to see this sport continue to grow like it is right now. It’s on this amazing track and growth. It’s cool being a part of that and seeing that.”

Logano, who also won titles in 2018 and 2022, is having a bit of an up and down season. He has six finishes of 20th or worse in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, but has a victory at Texas along with two top-five and four top-10 finishes.

“Really, it’s been typical of what we’ve had the past couple years,” Logano said. “If we can continue that typical trend and show up as the playoffs come around even moreso, that would be great. It’s not from a lack of effort or that’s the strategy. It just seems like it’s been that way at times. Hopefully, we’re able to turn it up again.”

Indeed, it seems whenever the pressure is on, Logano is at his best.

“You can never count the 22 out. We seem to show up when it matters the most more times than not,” Logano said. “It doesn’t always happen that way, but we put a lot of effort into trying to make it that way. We think all the races count, to be honest with you. But obviously the stakes are a little higher when the playoffs roll around.

“I feel solid where we’re at. It’s the same team pretty much as what we had last year. The guys know how to do it, they know how to handle the pressure when it’s turned up. So we should be fine.”

At Pocono, Logano has 29 starts with two poles, one win, five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. His win, however, came in June 2012 when he drove for Joe Gibbs Racing. Since joining Team Penske in 2013, his best finish at the 2.5-mile triangular track is a third place in August 2014.

“We’ve been close a couple times, but never really had the opportunity to pull it off yet,” Logano said. “I feel solid about our efforts coming into this weekend. We were pretty solid here last year, finished fifth and (teammate Ryan) Blaney won the race. So I think we should at least have our heads wrapped around the place a little bit.”

In addition to having a fast car, you have to survive the chaotic restarts and have good strategy at Pocono.

“I’ve got a great team when it comes to that part of it,” Logano said. “(Crew chief) Paul Wolfe is one of the best when it comes to strategy, maybe the best when it comes to calling a race. For what a lot of people think is gambling, he does not see it that way at all. It’s all calculated in his mind. Between him and the engineers, they do a great job at figuring out what the best decisions are to position the 22 as close to the front as possible. At that point, they put it in my hands to try to make it happen.

“This track, though, presents a lot of opportunities to do things. With the stages the way they fall, with being able to pit and not go down a lap, there’s a lot of opportunity to do some crazy stuff. It’s a road course-ish, oval-ish place.”

Logano starts 12th in Sunday’s race after a qualifying lap of 170.866 mph in 52.673 seconds.

Hamlin wins pole

Denny Hamlin, the winningest driver at Pocono with seven victories, captured the pole for Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.COM. Hamlin, who missed last week’s race at Mexico City because of the birth of his son, ran a qualifying lap of 172.599 mph in 52.144 seconds to earn his fifth pole at Pocono and 45th of his career.

“I ran as fast as I could in practice, but I think we were 26th or something like that (27th),” Hamlin said. “But what was encouraging was that we ran our fastest lap on Lap 16. So we had some capability to it; we knew we could make it better in the short run. You should be running your fastest lap on Lap 16. So there was room to be had, I told them what I needed. Obviously I know how to drive around the track and they gave me exactly what I asked for.”

Chris Buescher will start alongside Hamlin on the front row after qualifying second at 172.325 mph in the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford.

Carson Hocevar qualified third in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet at 171.825 mph. John Hunter Nemechek was fourth in the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota at 171.789 mph and Cole Custer rounded out the top five in the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford at 171.638 mph.

William Byron and Bubba Wallace, the two fastest cars during practice Saturday, both had issues during qualifying.

Byron crashed his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the tunnel turn during his attempt and will start Sunday’s race 31st in a backup car.

Meanwhile, Wallace’s 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota, would not start when it was time to make his attempt. He will start 34th.

Chase Elliott qualified 18th for the Cup Series race. Earlier Saturday, he won the pole for the Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 later in the day at Pocono.

Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.COM is scheduled to get the green flag at 2:20 p.m. For the third consecutive year, the race is a sellout. It will be streamed on Amazon Prime.

Originally Published: June 21, 2025 at 3:44 PM EDT