NASCAR champion Joey Logano rages at Darlington as 2026 woes continue

It would be fair to say that the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is not going to plan so far for Joey Logano, and there was further evidence of it at Darlington Raceway this past weekend.

On Saturday, in qualifying, Logano finished down in 29th spot, well off the pace of his Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric, who had qualified in seventh and 12th, respectively.

However, during Sunday's race, things went from bad to worse, with Logano ending up further back than he started, crossing the finish line in 33rd place, making him the lowest full-time Ford driver in South Carolina.

During the race, his frustrations with the car underneath him were clear for all to hear, as shared by The Athletic's Jordan Bianchi: "I don't understand how it can be this f***ing far off.

"I mean, the balance now is somewhat drivable, but it's freaking slow as s**t."

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Joey Logano's 2026 struggles continue

Logano's lack of performance in his No. 22 Ford is even more remarkable considering where his Team Penske teammates ended up. Ryan Blaney finished third to Tyler Reddick and Brad Keselowski, while Austin Cindric also finished inside the top five.

It is certainly back to the drawing board for the No. 22 team, but it isn't like Darlington has been their only difficult outing this season.

At the Daytona 500, they had pace. Logano won one of the duels and went on to finish 3rd in the main event, but since then, results have gone downhill.

18th at Atlanta, 15th at COTA, 31st in Phoenix, 15th in Las Vegas, 33rd at Darlington is a trend of results that the three-time champion will be looking to reverse sooner rather than later, with Martinsville up next this weekend.

Last year at Martinsville, Logano finished 8th in both the spring and fall races, so his second top 10 of the season could well be on the cards.

However, if that is to be the case, Logano and the team must find a better setup on the No. 22, as clearly it wasn't to the three-time champion's liking on Sunday in South Carolina.

The silver lining in all of this, perhaps, is that Logano still sits inside The Chase spots and 16th in the latest Cup Series standings.