After wedding and winter to reflect, Joey Logano looks for more in 2015

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The last several months for Joey Logano have shifted a bit in terms of priorities.

The focus had been pit stops, debriefs and victory lane speeches. But lately, it’s been about wedding vows, a honeymoon, classic cars and antiques.

“I have enjoyed it a ton,” Logano told MotorSportsTalk. “It’s been so hectic, with the racing thing, going for a championship, and then the wedding was going.

“I’ve still had plenty of stuff going on. Now we’re getting to all the projects. I got married. We had the honeymoon. There was the Christmas break to enjoy some things, and soon we’re back to work.”

Such is the life of the breakout star of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, who comes off the back of his long-awaited first “big” season in Cup into the domestic world full-bore.

Logano is now married, and teammate Brad Keselowski kept us all informed on how the reception was going on social media.

Post-the honeymoon, Logano’s embracing his classic car hobby, getting wife Brittany up to speed on that and also trying to keep pace with her in the antique world.

This is the 2014-’15 NASCAR offseason, where testing has been all but reduced and the Cup field actually has time off.

“Basically, all the stuff I put off during the season is coming off the to-do list now,” Logano said. “We’re getting there.”

“Getting there” could, of course, also describe how close Logano came to scoring his first career series championship. The rare pit road disaster at Homestead put a damper on the season finale and dropped him from first to fourth in points, but it did not defeat Logano nor his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Team Penske crew’s spirits.

Logano discussed his growth in his second year with Team Penske.

“As a driver, sometimes it becomes harder to be one of the team guys,” Logano explained. “The more time we spend with them, the better the relationships built, and the more they’re in tune.”

One area where Logano has really capitalized is in his transport to and from races, flying with his crew on commercial air travel rather than on his own jet as some in the NASCAR world often do.

“That’s one step I feel like is worth it for me,” Logano said. “Yeah I’m married now, but not having kids, getting home 30 minutes earlier doesn’t do too much for me. When you’re with the team traveling, it’s all still especially fresh after the race. You talk about the race sooner and get your debrief in quicker.”

Logano had an impressive run of races early in the season, with four top-four finishes in a six-race stretch from Phoenix through Texas, the last of which was his first of a career-high five wins during the year.

With the schedule shakeup at the early portion of the year – Atlanta moves to the first race after the Daytona 500, followed by the revised west coast swing of Las Vegas, Phoenix and California – Logano is keen to repeat if not improve upon his 2014 performance at the opening stretch of races.

“I don’t think (that change) will change too much, or be an advantage to us,” Logano said. “Atlanta has been a great track for us. We have had some great cars capable of winning. That is where we’ll really see how the new rules package is.

“The first downforce tracks, I will be interested to see where people stack up. With Vegas, Phoenix, California, we’ll know where we stack up and what our weak points are. That’s where we’ll see the hard work over the offseason, and see in each area where we will be better as a team or as individuals.”

Given his prowess in the XFINITY (then-Nationwide) Series with lower horsepower cars both with Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing, Logano may take better to the horsepower adjustment than most in 2015.

“They’re basically going to be Nationwide cars with the less horsepower,” Logano said. “It will still be more than a Nationwide, but we lost quite a bit of downforce. This brings it more in line with a Nationwide car, in that direction.

“Will the changes be good or bad for me? I don’t think that will make a difference. Last year with the high downforce and high horsepower, it worked. Nationwide worked as well. We’ll still have to figure it out! Being able to drive it once (in testing), I’m glad I did, and we’ll understand where we go from here.”

Lastly, Logano still feels confident in the shop work and preparation done by the Team Penske crew even despite the testing ban to build on 2014 before the 2015 season kicks off.

“We can’t go testing obviously, so it’s hard to make huge gains on the race car,” Logano said. “So we have to be able to find gains without going to the track, and sometimes you need to get creative.

“Teamwork becomes more important. When you can’t test there’s no huge gains, so it’s small things here and there. You stack pennies and make a dollar. We’re looking at little things in every area to improve.”

Jett Lawrence wins Hangtown Pro Motocross, remains perfect in 450s

Lawrence Hangtown Motocross
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Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.


Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

2023 Motocross Race Recaps

Fox Raceway: Jett Lawrence wins in first 450 start

2023 Supercross Race Recaps

Salt Lake City: Chase Sexton ends the season with win
Denver: Chase Sexton wins, takes points’ lead with Eli Tomac injury
Nashville: Chase Sexton keeps hope alive; Cooper Webb out
New Jersey: Justin Barcia wins muddy race; first in two years
Atlanta: Chase Sexton is back in the championship picture
Glendale: Eli Tomac wins 51st, breaks tie with James Stewart
Seattle: Eli Tomac wins and ties Webb for first
Detroit: Chase Sexton inherits win after Aaron Plessinger falls
Indianapolis: Ken Roczen gets first win in more than a year
Daytona: Eli Tomac extends Daytona record with seventh win
Arlington: Cooper Webb wins for second time, closes to two of Tomac
Oakland: Eli Tomac ties Ricky Carmichael with 48 wins
Tampa: Cooper Webb gets first 2023 win
Houston: Eli Tomac bounces back from A2 crash to win third race of 2023
Anaheim 2: Triple Crown produces new winners Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen
San Diego: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence double down
Anaheim 1: Eli Tomac wins opener for the first time

More SuperMotocross coverage

Chase Sexton is out for Hangtown
Enzo Lopes re-signs with Club MX for 2024
Record Supercross attendance reported in 2023
SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Pala
Results and points after Pala
Jett Lawrence wins Pala in his first MX start
450 Champion Chase Sexton takes back what he gave away
250 West Supercross champion Jett Lawrence ends dream career
250 East Supercross champion Hunter Lawrence overcomes doubt and injury