Joey Logano looks to repeat past success at Martinsville after controversial Richmond finish behind Denny Hamlin

Joey Logano hints at winning his first race of this season at Martinsville
Joey Logano hints at winning his first race of this season at Martinsville

Joey Logano looks forward to repeating his success at Martinsville from 2018 after he posted a throwback picture on his social media earlier.

Logano hasn't won a race so far this season. He was competitive at Richmond earlier but finished in second place. Heading into the weekend at Martinsville, he hinted at his first win this season. He posted a picture on his X (formerly Twitter) captioned "Eyes on the Clock this Sunday," referring to the famous Martinsville grandfather clock that is awarded to race winners at the track.

This season has not been very successful for Joey Logano with just two top-ten finishes. His last race win was at Atlanta in 2023, the season when he finished in 12th place in the championship. However, he did come very close to winning at Richmond Raceway earlier but lost to Denny Hamlin after a controversial race restart.

Denny Hamlin was thought to have jump-started the race in the final two laps after a late caution caused by Kyle Larson's contact with Bubba Wallace. Joey Logano was in second place at the time but had no opportunity to battle Hamlin. While NASCAR did not penalize Hamlin for the jump-starting allegations, Logano was rather disappointed.


Joey Logano disappointed with NASCAR's irregularities after Richmond loss

In the final laps of the race, the Team Penske driver was in a close battle with race leader Martin Truex Jr. But after Kyle Larson's incident, the race turned into the pitlane with the top drivers pitting.

Denny Hamlin's pit helped him to get out first, hence getting to lead the grid for the final two laps of the race; a green-white-checkered restart. He was suspected to have jumped at the start, but explaining his move on the Actions Detrimental podcast, he stated that he was seeing other drivers around him (Logano and Truex Jr) who were creeping up to him, and hence started.

NASCAR did not penalize him, as mentioned. However, Joey Logano remained disappointed with the sport's irregularities in driver penalties. He told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio:

"I'm probably a little too close to the fire on this one. Because it would have really affected my life."
"I think if, if it's a call at lap 300, it should be or call at lap 397. It should be the same. There's more time to review it after the race than there is during the race."

Heading into Martinsville now, Logano is expecting a better race and perhaps bringing in his first race win of the season.

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