The start of the playoffs did not proceed as Joey Logano and Team Penske planned. Now, he is ready for yet another do-or-die situation as he pursues his fourth championship.
Logano is three points below the cutline heading to a track where he has finished no worse than fifth in three starts. This sets him up to move on quickly from last weekend when he lacked speed at Darlington Raceway.
"You just have to write that one off as quick as possible, move on, figure out what you have to do at Gateway and keep going because at some point in the playoffs your back will be up against the wall and it will be do-or-die at some point," Logano told media members this week.
"100% in the playoffs in these 10 weeks you will have that at least one time. If you make it to the Championship 4, your back is up against the wall. You must win. That can happen in any other round too, so you want to try to keep yourself from being in that position and that's why Gateway this weekend is an ultra important weekend."
Not that Logano has concerns about his team's ability to rise to the occasion. They have done so many times before, including last season when the No. 22 team only made the playoffs by virtue of a five-overtime win at Nashville Superspeedway. This team did not have enough points to make it into the 16-driver field.
How did Logano start the playoffs? He and the No. 22 team won the opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway. They received some help in the Round of 12 as NASCAR disqualified Alex Bowman for the No. 48 failing inspection at the Roval.
Logano and the No. 22 team then entered the Round of 8 as the last remaining seed. They needed a strong three weeks to reach the Championship 4 for the sixth time in the elimination era.
This was another do-or-die moment for the team. They responded by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and taking the first spot in the Championship 4.
Less than one year later, Team Penske appears ready to face another do-or-die situation. Will they rise to the occasion and rebound at Gateway and Bristol, or will they exit the playoffs after the Round of 16?
"The good news is, more times than not, we excel in those types of situations," Logano said. "We usually can rise to the occasion. With that said, we've seen the other side before too. We've been through it enough, but we know how to handle it."