NASCAR star Joey Logano clear where strengths lie after Martinsville

Joey Logano's wretched start to the 2026 season improved somewhat at Martinsville this Sunday, a welcome change for the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champ.

The Team Penske star finished third around the Paperclip behind Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin, solidifying his place in the top 16 in points, and praised his car after the race.

In a pit road interview after Sunday's race, he admitted that his team is currently more dialled into short track racing than intermediate ovals and superspeedways, joking that he wants to see more of the short track package.

The 35-year-old is up to 12th in the points standings after Sunday's race, still a massive 168 points behind runaway leader Tyler Reddick but at least closer to the hunt for when things start to compress in the middle of the year.

Logano: I don't know that Elliott was better

The No. 20 car driver said: "Solid rebound for everybody. A track we expect to do well here. Glad to see that. Weekends like last weekend you start to question everything.

"Nice to have a good rebound, solid car. Our car honestly, if we were able to get to the lead, I don’t know if the 9 was any better than us. He just got the clean air at the right time. If we were able to do that, we could have been in that position as well.

"Proud of the team. Good stage points, which we needed in both stages, and a solid third place. Something nice to head into Easter with."

He added: "More short tracks, please. Definitely our strength as a team. Blaney was strong today. Austin as well. 21 ran well even.

"Yeah, I mean, I feel like we definitely got our heads a little bit more wrapped around these type of racetracks. That’s when you got to capitalize. You have to come out here and run top five when you have those tracks on the schedule. Got to keep working on the other ones.

"Not where we need to be yet. That definitely felt nicer than last week."

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