CHARLOTTE -- No Cup Series driver has won back-to-back championships since NASCAR introduced the elimination format in 2014. If you ask one driver full of confidence, this streak will not last forever.
So when will it end?
"This year," Joey Logano said with a smile during Playoff Media Day.
Logano is not short on confidence entering his 12th playoff appearance, and for good reason. After all, he's won 15 races once fall has arrived, and he's made the Championship 4 a series-leading six times.
Once the playoffs begin, Logano heads to the track believing that he and the No. 22 team will beat the field. They will capitalize when the pressure is highest.
It's hard to picture Logano at a time when he didn't believe he could wax the field, especially since he joined Team Penske. Yet, he will openly acknowledge that he once took a different attitude to the track each week.
"Earlier in my career, I didn't have much confidence at all. I had no reason to be confident," Logano said. "You can't just BS yourself, right? You know the truth. The whole fake it 'til you make it thing doesn't work with yourself. You know who you really are and you know what your team really is capable of.
"For me, early in my career, I had no reason to have any confidence. I just wanted to be lying to myself and everybody else, but I do feel like our team is really, really strong at this time of year, which makes me feel good about it no matter where we start the playoffs.
"I feel like we have a great chance of getting there. I think we can rise to the occasion better than any other team out here. That's why most of our wins come at this time of year."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Logano has an opportunity ahead of him. He's the reigning champion. If he goes on yet another Logano-style playoff run, he will tie Jeff Gordon with his fourth championship.
He will also become the first driver in the elimination era to win back-to-back titles. That's certainly one way to boost the Hall of Fame resume.
This will not be an easy task considering that Logano enters the playoffs as the 12th seed. He remains only one point above the cutline heading to the Round of 16 opener at Darlington Raceway.
Yet, this lack of a playoff cushion does not cause any trepidation. Logano has won multiple championships after overcoming early issues. He did so as recently as last season when he took advantage of a disqualification and a fuel mileage win.
"Honestly, the years I felt like we should have won the championship, we didn't," Logano said. "I think the key lesson of all that is, you're never out. Until you are out, you are not out.
"Even last year when I thought I was out, I was not out. It's a very interesting ten weeks that's going to come at us here. It's unpredictable."
As Logano has proven multiple times throughout his career, he embraces unpredictable situations and uses them to his advantage. This is something he plans on doing once again as he pursues championship No. 4.