Joey Logano hungry for 3rd NASCAR Cup title: ‘We just have to put our foot on their throats’

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Joey Logano said the path to a third NASCAR Cup championship Sunday at Phoenix Raceway is simple.

“We just have to put our foot on their throats,” he said after qualifying second Saturday, joining pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. on the front row.

Logano has the best starting spot of the four title contenders but won’t have the best pit stall.

Logano’s car failed inspection twice before qualifying and that cost his team its selection of pit stalls. He would have had the first pick of pit stalls by qualifying better than the other championship contenders, but the penalty meant that NASCAR chose his pit stall.

Logano will be in pit stall 24. He will have Jeb Burton in the stall behind him and Harrison Burton in the stall ahead of him. Jeb Burton starts last in the 40-car field and is not expected to be on the same lap as Logano too deep into the race. Harrison Burton drives for the Wood Brothers, who are aligned with Team Penske. They’ll likely work with Logano.

As it turns out, this was about as good a situation Logano could have had after losing the chance for the No. 1 pit stall.

He is confident as he seeks his second championship in the past three years.

“I feel like we’ve had the upper hand, right?” Logano said. “Now I feel like it’s coming to life a little bit more so than just talking about it, seeing what just happened there.

“I feel like we’re in a great spot. Obviously a lot of things can happen from here, but when you look at what we just accomplished (Saturday) and getting a solid starting spot, that’s something that we should be proud of and also it’s exactly what we were trying to do.”

Byron will be in the first pit stall after qualifying eighth — second best of the title contenders.

The first pit stall is considered the best because drivers have nothing blocking them from exiting.

“I have the best pit crew out there,” Byron said. “So it’s going to be a good advantage for us just doing our jobs. The pit stall, hopefully, is clean for us and just work from there.”

Byron also said he feels his car has gotten better since practice.

“I think we’re plenty capable,” Byron said. “I feel like we had some things to improve after practice.”

Practice on Friday was not good for Reddick, who came back to qualify 10th Saturday.

“I think we went the wrong way,” Reddick said of practice. “We were able to understand it and learn from it. You never want to go through a practice and have it go that way, but we understood why we got where we did and why the speed kind of went away.

“Obviously we think we made the right choices going into Sunday for that, but obviously we have to wait and see how the race goes.”

Blaney qualified 17th, worst among the title contenders. He started 15th in last year’s race and went on to win the championship by placing second to Ross Chastain. Blaney said this week that one of the lessons he learned from last year is how he handled the first two-thirds of the title race, saying he felt he was “pretty wound up” in trying to get to the front.

“I’ll be able to put that to the test what I was talking about on media day because I’m starting about the same spot,” Blaney said.

“ … I think our car is pretty good. Still nice to have a decent pit stall and things like that. So, yeah, just kind of take it how we can get it tomorrow and kind of work through the first handful of laps and try to start marching forward.”