joey logano 2018 season fantasy preview

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​nascar.com

I want to cover Joey Logano next because he is such an interesting driver heading into 2018.  After being a serious championship contender for the last several years, he missed the playoffs altogether in 2017.  He started the season strong, but it all fell apart with the "encumbered win" at Richmond.  From that point on, he could barely run in the Top 20 -- let alone challenge for race wins.  Let's look at some of the actual numbers.

In the first eight races of 2017, Logano finished in the Top 10 seven times and he led 215 laps.  In the ninth race at Richmond, he started at the rear, but came through the field, led 25 laps and won the race.  But it was an "encumbered win" after NASCAR found an illegal rear suspension.  From that point on, the season was a disaster.  In the remaining 27 races, Logano finished in the Top 10 only nine more times and he finished outside the Top 20 a whopping thirteen times.  That is unheard of for team and driver of this caliber.  In those final 27 races, Logano led only 136 laps -- far less than he led in the first nine races of the year.

So what to expect in 2018?  I think Logano will rebound, make the playoffs and again be a championship contender.  He and Team Penske simply have too much talent and too many resources to be that bad.  In addition, we did see some level of improvement toward the end of 2017.  Although Logano was not in the playoffs, his performance did see a clear uptick in the ten playoff races.  For example, he had five Top 10 finishes in those races and led over 100 laps in them.  So, the team seemed to start to overcome whatever issues it suffered after the Richmond penalty.  And, with a full off-season of work, I expect Logano to hit the ground running in 2018.

It's hard to identify one strong suit for Logano as he seems pretty consistent at all types of tracks.  He has had recent success at the restrictor plate tracks, including a win in the 2015 Daytona 500 and the 2016 playoff race at Talladega.  He is also strong at most 1.5 mile tracks.  In the last two years, his best tracks overall are the 1.5 mile tracks at Las Vegas (where he has back-to-back Top 5 finishes) and Texas (where he finished three of the last four races in the Top 5, with a total of 217 laps led).  He has also been strong at the 2 mile tracks at California/Auto Club (back-to-back Top 5's) and Michigan (one win and another Top 5).  So, if the team is back to its form of 2015 and 2016, Logano will be on the fantasy radar almost every week in this upcoming 2018 season.

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