Joey Logano dominates NASCAR Truck Series race at Bristol Dirt: ‘He’s really good’

Once again, Joey Logano has proven he can do it all.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion dominated from start to finish on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt track during Saturday’s Truck Series race — sweeping all three stages and never really being challenged during the race’s many restarts en route to a victory.

This was Logano’s first truck race of the season. He drove in the No. 66 car for Thorsport Racing.

Logano’s teammate for the night, Ty Majewski, finished second.

Logano’s fellow Cup competitor, William Byron, finished third.

And Logano’s Team Penske Cup teammate, Ryan Blaney, was his spotter.

If you haven’t yet discerned: Saturday revolved around Logano.

“He’s really good obviously,” Majewski told reporters on pit road post-race. “Just glad we got Thorsport in Victory Lane. Really cool to have all our trucks really run well all day today. I don’t know, I thought maybe at times I could maybe match him on the long runs, starting to flip a little bit. But every time that was happening, we’d get a yellow.

“I don’t know if we could’ve done anything with him. Maybe make a bit nervous, but that would be about it.”

In total, Saturday saw 11 cautions for 66 laps. That means that over a third of the race’s laps came under yellow.

There were only four lead changes on Saturday. There were three lap leaders — Matt DiBenedetto (11 laps), Majewski (1) and Logano (138).

The Bristol dirt racetrack held up well — and the slipping and sliding that makes this track compelling certainly prevailed — but trucks kept getting loose and causing wrecks.

Logano’s dominance sustained despite all of that.

When asked if it was fun battling Logano on Saturday — considering he found himself P2 on the race’s final restart — Byron shrugged and cracked a joke.

“It wasn’t much of a battle,” Byron said. “They were good.”

Three observations from Joey Logano after his win

▪ Logano loved the “Choose Drone” on Saturday. NASCAR used an LED drone to signify the choose area ahead of restarts on Saturday and will also do so during Sunday’s Cup race. The drone flew on the frontstretch just past the start-finish line, marking when the “choose zone” began — when cars had to pick the outside line or the inside line on restarts. Here’s Logano’s perspective on the new technology: “It works pretty good. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing that at every track. There are a lot of times — at almost all the races — where the choose box on the racetrack is really hard to see, especially if you come up to it. If there’s a car in front of you, or if the track is really flat and it’s not banked, that really pops out. You know exactly where it is.”

▪ Logano enjoyed having Blaney as his spotter. What started as a way to perhaps get more TV time turned into a winning formula. Logano recalled asking Blaney to be his spotter for this race in Atlanta because Logano’s regular spotter, Coleman Pressley, committed before the season to spot for another driver in the truck ranks: “(Blaney) was all in,” Logano said. “He goes, ‘Yeah absolutely! But I’d never really spotted before. I’ve only done it a couple times, and the last time I did it, the guy wrecked.’ And I said, ‘Well, we can’t get too much worse!’”

▪ Logano discussed how the dirt track emulates the concrete track at Bristol. Logano isn’t alone in preferring Bristol’s concrete over the dirt track it currently has. But he also admitted that the dirt wasn’t as much of a distinguisher as some might express. “I don’t understand how,” Logano said. “You’d think the track would be completely different. But the way the lanes work on restarts, and even as it goes along, it is very similar surprisingly. I don’t know how that happens. But it’s been pretty similar these past few years.”

Official results at Bristol Dirt Truck race

Official results from NASCAR are below. Post-race inspection was completed with no issues detected.

This story was originally published April 8, 2023 at 10:29 PM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription