Logano took the lead from Matt Kenseth with 44 laps remaining and scooted to his third Sprint Cup victory of the season in Saturday’s IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"We can win the championship. We’ve showed it at every kind of race track. We’ve just got to keep doing it," said Logano, 24, who held off his Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski in the final laps.
"What a year we’re having. I’m having so much fun. The past six or seven races have been unbelievable."
Logano has finished no worse than sixth in any of the last five races but took special pride in winning at the track known as the "World’s Fastest Half-Mile."
"It’s just the baddest mamma jamma race track ever built," said Logano, who two years ago was struggling with a loss of confidence at Joe Gibbs Racing.
"At that point, I would never think I’d have a year like this," he said. "That’s why the mental side of this is just as important as the physical side. But I’m happy I went through all that. It’s made me what I am now and made me aware of how I have to be, mentally, to win these things."
It was a big weekend for both Penske and Ford Racing with Keselowski winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event in a truck he owns, Ryan Blaney winning for Penske in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race and Logano and Keselowski finishing 1-2 in the main event.
"I think we’re legitimate threats to win a championship this year and I’m proud of that," said Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup champion and the ‘old man’ of the group at 30. "To have all three drivers win races, I think that’s a testament to how bright the future is. I think the results speak for themselves. We’ve just got to keep rolling."
It’s also the first time that Ford Racing has swept a NASCAR weekend series since 2006 when Mark Martin won in truck and Kenseth won both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at Bristol. Ford’s nine Sprint Cup victories this season are its most since 2008 when it won 11 times.
Like Logano, Keselowski has three victories this season. The difference between the two drivers on Saturday was minimal.
"I think our two cars were really, really equal," Keselowski said. "Whoever got out front and got the clean air first was going to win the race and Joey was able to do that.
"The last lap I just dive-bombed it in there on a prayer, kind of hoping it would stick or he would slip or something would happen for me. It made it look cool but it really wasn’t that close."
Team Penske Executive Vice President Walt Czarnecki couldn’t be happier with the way things are working out with his team in its second year with Ford.
"When Joey came on board, we told him, ‘There’s no No. 1. There’s no No. 2. Everybody’s equal. We all contribute, we all have the came access to information, the same access to resources. I think it’s really been demonstrated in the performance of the team this year with six wins."(Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Media)
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