Joey Logano has slipped into the most disappointing campaign of his Cup Series career, with the No. 22 Team Penske driver still bereft of a victory since the Texas win on May 4, 2025.
Steadfast Decline Amid Shaky Sundays
Logano has posted only two top‑five finishes—at Daytona and Martinsville—and a paltry five top‑ten results across fifteen starts so far. After qualifying sixth at Watkins Glen, the veteran has yet to break the top ten with finishes of eighth, fourteenth and seventh at Charlotte, Nashville and Michigan respectively.
There have been weeks that the car leaves the hauler without a single practice lap that reaches the top twenty‑five, and other times the team has met its own back‑road with Cole Custer on Pit Road at Texas. Those mishaps, paired with bad luck, have kept the No. 22 from finding its rhythm.
Internal Turbulence at Penske and Ford Performance
The factory setup has struggled as well. Logano sits 17th in the championship, a mere three points shy of teammate Austin Cindric, while fellow Ford driver Josh Berry recently announced he would not return to Wood Brothers Racing – a fact that clouded the crew’s morale even further.
Although Ford Performance’s RFK competition is reliable, the platform’s output hasn’t matched the consistency that Ryan Blaney’s third‑place standing and his team’s results have brought. That little gap has amplified the pressure on Logano and engineer Paul Wolfe to uncover solutions that work.
Logano and Paul Wolfe: Rethinking a Winning Formula
Logano and Wolfe, together credited with 43 combined wins between Brad Keselowski’s era and Logano’s own titles, admit that clinging to past formulas would tie them to a bad history. “You can’t rely on what worked a decade ago,” Logano said. “The sport evolves, so we must evolve.”
Both men insist their partnership remains intact, even as they search for fresh approaches to car setup, strategy and “processes.” The duo plan to “think outside the box” and identify new ways to achieve victory, even if that means testing platforms that haven’t been considered before.
Ryan Blaney’s Contrast and the Power of Cooperation
Blaney’s run, being the first driver to do what many thought impossible, illustrates the potential of the Ford‑Penske partnership. Logano praised his teammate, noting that Blaney “puts races together consistently” and that their success “can teach us how to close the gap.”
Yet Logano stresses that adaptation is essential: “We’re not stubborn.” Logano foregrounds the need to tailor the car’s performance to his own style and not to copy Blaney, but instead find a combination that unlocks the No. 22’s capacity.
NextGen Car and Strategic Outlook
The fanfare around NextGen designs has emboldened Logano to refocus on the turning point of the schedule. “The new car’s design is crucial for Ford’s future,” Logano explained, underscoring the need to keep the No. 22 in a competitive window. The question remains whether the current generation can be re‑tuned to carve a path toward a playoff berth.
Can the No. 22 Resurrect the Season?
Logano maintained a resolute outlook, asserting that the driver and team were “not out yet.” Despite the mathematics of the Chase appearing daunting, the team’s resilience could still translate into playoff qualification, even if they remain a lap or a handful behind Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin with ten races to run.
Should the No. 22 regroup, Jensen notes that the team’s track record of turning adversity into an on‑track triumph makes any revival plausible. The source, however, stresses that a turnaround will only occur if the partnership continues to push beyond traditional boundaries while maintaining focus on the NextGen platform’s untapped potential.
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