Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

Joey Logano has never talked to crew chief Paul Wolfe about winning a title in 2024 in order to accomplish something only nine other NASCAR Cup Series drivers have achieved.

For the two-time Cup champion Logano, it just goes without saying. The goal every year is to win a championship, so the fact he will vie for his third Cup title Sunday at Phoenix Raceway doesn’t include the additional incentive for him to join the elite three-time champion club. 

“He hasn’t mentioned anything about it, honestly,” Wolfe said. “It hasn’t been discussed. Some guys have two, but to get three, obviously would put him in an elite group.”

Logano will look back at his career one day and see where he ranks among the all-time greats, but the only time talk of winning a third title enters the conversation is when someone mentions the Team Penske driver already has two, not what it would do for his legacy nor the company he would join.

“I can’t say I really thought of it that way,” Logano said. “My goal every year is the same — whether we’ve won one, none, five, doesn’t matter. The goal is to win the championship.

“So the conversation between me and Paul doesn’t have to happen. We know that. That’s just the end goal.”

If Logano wins his third title on Sunday, it will rank as his most unlikely. Having finished 15th in the regular-season standings, a win in the chaotic five-overtime Nashville race vaulted him into the playoffs. He then won the opening playoff race at the drafting-style Atlanta event and then used a fuel mileage strategy to win at Vegas in the semifinal round.

The Vegas victory gave him an automatic bid to race for the title at Phoenix, where the best finisher among Logano, William Byron, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick (the entire 40-car field competes in the race itself) captures the title.

So Logano should feel a little pride. No driver since the elimination-style format started in 2014 has gone from 15th in the regular season to having a shot at the championship in the final race.

Logano, whose six Champ 4 appearances rank as the most since the inception of the elimination-style format in 2014, is sort of impressed to have another shot at the title.

“Making the Championship 4 is an accomplishment of itself,” Logano said. “Getting here is not easy. You have to have a regular season that helps set you up to get through the playoffs. And if you don’t, then you have to have a hell of a run through the playoffs and win the best races, the most important races.

“We didn’t have the best regular season. We figured out how to have a solid playoff, winning a couple of them and put ourselves in the Championship 4.”

So this is a big deal just to have a shot, right?

“It’s an accomplishment to make it, but nobody remembers who finished second last year,” Logano said. “I don’t. I don’t know who I don’t know who it was

“And so it’s all about winning is what that means. It’s great to make it, but it’s really all about winning at this point.”

Logano has made a name for himself as the driver who seems to perform the best when it matters the most. He has won in two of his five previous Champ 4 appearances, including the most recent in 2022.

“It’s about a team that never gives up, and knows that you’re never out of it,” Wolfe said. “This format, more than ever, allows for that to happen, It keeps you motivated and working hard every week because even though we’ve had a pretty up and down year and had our fair struggles, there’s still an opportunity.

“And ultimately, everyone on the team has been able to rise to that occasion and make it happen.”

If Logano and the team make it happen Sunday, not only will Logano own three titles, he’ll be just the third driver to have won three titles in the 2000s (Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart the others) and the 34-year-old will be just the fifth to accomplish it when under the age of 35.

“So I’ve got some years [to win more],” Logano said. 

Right now, the focus is just on Sunday to see if he can join Johnson, Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Lee Petty.

“There would pride in that absolutely,” Logano said. “I don’t know if that’s what drives me to do it, but it would be obviously a really cool piece of winning another championship.”

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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In December 2022, Formula 1 reporter Jennie Gow’s life was turned upside down. Out of nowhere, the BBC 5 Live radio journalist suffered a stroke that left her unable to read, write or speak, with fears over whether she would ever be able to live a normal life again, never mind being her energetic and loquacious self on the BBC’s popular radio broadcasts and podcasts.

“It’s quite surreal going through a stroke, It’s not high up on the list of things you think you’re going to have to deal with in your 40s,” Gow told Motorsport.com.

“When you’ve spent most of your life reading, writing, speaking, and taking all of that kind of for granted – because we all do… When you lose that ability to do what I do as a job, to communicate, it’s a very abrupt, sudden change of your life. One minute you’re in control, and the next minute you have no control of anything.

“There were certainly moments when I doubted that I’d ever be able to speak again, or speak again well enough to be a broadcaster, and I was like: ‘What am I going to do?’ There’s nothing that you can really fall back on, because I always jokingly said: ‘Oh well, if I lose my job, that’s fine. I’ll just do something else.’ But what can you do if you can’t communicate? It’s really hard, and it gave me a real appreciation for another side of life.

“That day, I was very fortunate that the right things happened at the right time to enable me the best chance of a good recovery. We’re now 22 months down the line, and whilst I don’t feel 100% I do at least feel better than I did. Life is more normal now.”

Fast-forward 22 months and Gow has made a huge amount of progress during a tough recovery process, and has used her profile in the UK to work with stroke-related charities and raise awareness. In the UK 100,000 people have strokes each year (roughly one in 700). In the United States that figure stands at around 795,000 (approx. one in 400).

But Gow has now also written a book about Formula 1, which seemed inconceivable at the start. Titled How to Read F1, the book is a witty and light-hearted guide of often-used F1 terms, infused with anecdotes from Gow’s broadcasting career. But the title can also be read as a reflection on Gow’s recovery, as she has had to learn how to read again.

“Nine months after my stroke, one of my bosses at the BBC called me and asked how I felt about writing a book, and I said: ‘You do know I had a stroke, right?” 47-year-old Gow said. “I thought they were maybe joking at first, but then I had a lovely conversation with the publisher. We discussed the concept of an A-to-Z guide and immediately that felt slightly more manageable.

How to Read F1 Book Cover, Jennie Gow

Photo by: Penguin Random House

“I sent the first portions of the book back, and I thought there’s no way they’re going to want me to do this. I’m just not in a state where I’m ready. But then they came back to me and said: ‘Okay, let’s do it’.”

Gow hasn’t just attempted to teach fans about how F1 works. Writing the book has taught her a lot about herself too, and alongside untold hours of therapy, it became a valuable tool to speed up her recovery. Still suffering from dyslexia as a result of her stroke, she considered calling in the help of a ghostwriter but decided to carry on herself by writing the book in painstakingly small steps.

“It kept me motivated. I used it as a working therapy because it gave me a purpose and something to work towards,” she explained. “Some days I’d really struggle and couldn’t make any sense of what I was doing, but I just got more and more fluid and fluent. It helped me massively.”

Coming in at 224 pages, the book is an inviting collection of bite-sized facts about F1’s drivers past and present, and an explanation of some of the most important concepts and jargon from the F1 paddock. And while it is clearly catered more to the casual fan, there are also some interesting and revealing nuggets about some of F1’s most prominent drivers that die-hard fans may not know, which we won’t spoil for you here.

“The book reflects a lot on me,” Gow said. “I miss the travelling F1 family and the paddock is a special place to work. This was a way of being able to have that connection, but this was also my platform to share my experiences with the listeners or readers at home; those anecdotes, those stories, facts about F1.

“You do doubt yourself, and there are so many amazing journalists and people in that paddock who might have been better placed to write this book,” she added. “But I feel like I’m in a position where I can straddle the fans who have been there for decades and the newer fans who may be approaching the sport with a bit of nerves of how they’ll be received. Being able to bridge that gap is, I hope, what I can bring to that mix.”

Gow doesn’t need to worry, because How to Read F1 is a fine and warmly written book, good to have within arm’s reach while following the grand prix action or to gift to newer fans to bring them up to speed.

Jennie Gow, BBC Radio 5 Live reporter

Photo by: Jennie Gow

But just the fact the book exists is to be celebrated in itself. For any budding author, seeing your first book published is a milestone. For Gow, who covered her first flyaway since her stroke in Austin last month, it is another major marker as she works on her fully-fledged return to the F1 paddock.

An unspecified number of European Formula 1 grands prix face the prospect of hosting races on a rotational basis sooner rather than later, according to series CEO Stefano Domenicali.

With a record-breaking 24 rounds already crammed onto the F1 calendar, the scope for adding new venues is now arguably smaller than ever.

Domenicali has previously suggested rotating European races would be an option but now he has said such a move is on the cards.

“We have some news to share very, very soon with regard to the possibility in the mid-term to have some rotational European Grand Prix and some other new options coming later,” Domenicali said on a Liberty Media investors call.

“This is something that, of course, we will clarify in the due course. It is true that we have a large demand of new possible venues that want to come in and our choice will always be balanced between the right economical benefits that we can have as a system and also to leverage the growth on the market that we can see potential that will be beneficial for us to grow even further our business.”

Speaking at a Globant event during the United States Grand Prix, Domenicali named Argentina as a venue where he would like to see F1 return.

Race start – George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15, takes the lead over Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Including the Azerbaijan GP, there are currently 10 races in Europe, with Italy hosting two – Imola and Monza – and Madrid joining the calendar for 2026, while Barcelona’s contract expires at the end of that year. 

Recent reports claimed the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya would begin to share a spot on the calendar with the Dutch GP in Zandvoort, although the organisers of the race in the Netherlands distanced themselves from the idea.

One potential issue with Domenicali’s plan is the contracts already held by a lot of European circuits, while the financial future of some of those tracks is reliant on staging a round of the F1 season on an annual basis.

Silverstone, the Hungaroring and the Red Bull Ring have deals that run into the 2030s, for example, although Spa, Monza, Zandvoort and Imola are all up after next year. Monaco, too, is currently only signed on for 2025 but there is very little chance of one of F1’s most iconic races having to share its slot.

Conversely, with F1 currently riding high in terms of interest and revenue, plenty of venues are keen to get a slice of the action by getting their own race added to the calendar.

Eau Rouge track action

Photo by: Erik Junius

A second race in Saudi Arabia, at the Qiddiya Circuit currently under construction, a return to Africa with Rwanda mooted as a potential venue and the aforementioned potential Argentine GP comeback are just some of the locations that could be eyeing a spot if and when the European season is truncated.

The current Concorde Agreement, in place until the end of 2025, allows for 25 races a year in the F1 season – but Domenicali is happy with 24 for the time being

“We believe that the balance we have in terms of numbers is the right one, so 24 is the balanced number that we feel is right,” he added.

“I do believe that all the propositions that are coming on our table is just giving us the possibility to make even better choices for our future.

“So as always, we need to be balanced, knowing that we cannot follow only the pure direct financial proposition, because that is different from region to region, but it’s up to us to propose to our stakeholders the right choice.

“I think that we are in a good momentum to make sure that the strategy for the future is even stronger, and that’s why we are so confident about the fact that this will help to enhance our platform on the sport, on social and business perspective.”

David Beckmann set the fastest time on the third day of Formula E pre-season testing as reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein showcased Porsche’s strength by leading a 1-2 in the simulation race.

Wehrlein became the first driver to lap the Jarama Circuit just outside Madrid below the 1m28s barrier in the morning session on Thursday but was eventually pipped to the top spot by 0.008s.

Kiro’s Beckmann posted a 1m27.755s in the final hour to go fastest while also setting the quickest time of the test so far, with just Friday’s morning session remaining ahead of an all-female test in the afternoon.

The German, who is Porsche’s Formula E test and development driver, has yet to make his debut in the all-electric championship and has not been confirmed with Kiro for the upcoming season.

The second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa finished the morning session third, just 0.058s behind Beckmann’s time, as three Porsche-powered cars occupied the top three spots.

The Portuguese driver followed Wehrlein home in the 24-lap simulation race which was held at the start of the afternoon’s session and was the first chance for teams to see the new Gen3 Evo in close-quarters action.

Reigning teams’ champions Jaguar occupied the front row with the grid determined by a random draw, and Mitch Evans led for the opening segment of proceedings after a delayed start.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing

Photo by: Malcolm Griffiths / Motorsport Images

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This was due to Zane Maloney, who will make his Formula E debut this season, being unable to launch off the line in his Lola/Yamaha-powered Abt, and the driver from Barbados completed no laps.

Evans held the lead until lap nine before da Costa moved to the front, with DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne taking the lead on the following lap.

The Frenchman’s new team-mate Maximilian Guenther moved into first at the halfway point, as 11 drivers made a mandatory pitstop to receive a pit boost charge.

The concept, whereby drivers receive a 10% battery charge at 600kW which is achieved in approximately 30 seconds, has been under development for more than two years.

The simulation was the first time teams were able to run the procedure during a race, with a decision set to be made by the FIA and championship on whether it will be implemented at points this season.

With all drivers completing the mandatory stop by lap 15, Vergne resumed in the lead but just three laps later, and after a planned safety car test, Wehrlein hit the front and began to pull away.

Team-mate da Costa moved into second at Turn 3 on the penultimate lap at the expense of Nick Cassidy.

António Félix da Costa, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team

Photo by: Andreas Beil

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Cassidy finished third ahead of Andretti’s Jake Dennis and team-mate Evans, with Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries completing the top six.

Normal running resumed for the remained of the afternoon, as Mahindra finished on top. De Vries posted a 1m28.010s which left him 0.451 clear of team-mate Edoardo Mortara in third, with Evans between the pair.

Formula E Race Test Result

Aston Martin has got to the bottom of its troubled Brazilian Grand Prix that left Lance Stroll out on the formation lap and Fernando Alonso battling extreme bouncing.

The Silverstone-based team endured a hugely challenging race afternoon at Interlagos as Stroll spun into the wall on the formation lap after his rears unexpectedly locked, before he managed to beach himself in the gravel.

Then Alonso struggled throughout with similar rear locking issues plus excessive porpoising that left him struggling with back pain at the end, but he was determined to push on and see the chequered flag.

Speaking on the team radio at the time, Alonso, who finished 14th, admitted that something unusual was happening. “This bouncing is not normal,” he said.

With no immediate explanation for what happened on both cars, Aston Martin has spent some time since returning to its factory trying to get a better comprehension of the factors at play.

It now suspects that the problems on both cars were triggered by a super nervous rear-end characteristic that had been introduced as a result of car changes made following the qualifying crashes the team suffered on Sunday morning.

Both Stroll and Alonso had hit the barriers in the wet qualifying session, damaging the Suzuka-concept specification floors the team had intended to run for the Interlagos event.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24, crashes out

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

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With no spares of that specification available, Aston Martin had to revert to a previous floor version – which was the one it first introduced at the Hungarian GP.

Normally teams cannot change specs between qualifying and the race, as that is a breach of parc ferme regulations and mandates a pitlane start.

However, things are different on a sprint race weekend when allowances are made if there is a shortage of spare parts.

Article 40.4 says at sprint weekends teams can change specification if they can “demonstrate there is a shortage of parts, and provided that the replacement part is of a specification that has been previously used in a qualifying session or a race”.

It was this rule that Mercedes used at the United States GP to allow George Russell to go back to an older specification of floor following his qualifying crash.

The complication for Aston Martin, however, was that the change of floor had to be made without it being able to alter the mechanical set-up around it – as suspension settings are totally fixed in parc ferme.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

So on a weekend where teams were battling the problems of excessive bumps on the Interlagos track, plus tricky weather conditions, the end result was a car whose aero platform and mechanical settings did not match up.

Speaking about what Aston Martin has found out since Brazil, team principal Mike Krack thinks a combination of elements came together to leave both its drivers with a car that was ultra nervous.

“It was clear that both drivers were battling a car that was incredibly difficult to drive during Sunday’s race,” he said. “Our post-weekend analysis has highlighted several factors that explain this.

“Following both car’s accidents in qualifying, we had to replace a lot of components with a different specification due to availabilities at the end of a triple-header. This is allowed by the Sprint Event regulations, and you declare your shortages and replacement options to the FIA before the event.

“[But] you aren’t allowed to change the mechanical set-up of the cars. This meant we could neither check nor adjust the set-up of the cars, which negatively affected aerodynamic behaviour and performance.

“Add in treacherous wet conditions, along with an incredibly bumpy track, and you begin to understand that both drivers had the odds stacked against them.

“Both cars were highly susceptible to wheel-locking, and we can see in the data that this is what caused the issues for both Lance and Fernando.”

Aston Martin has been experimenting with its floor choices in recent races, with an upgrade it delivered for Austin not delivering the step forward hoped for.

It reverted to the Suzuka spec from Mexico, and may commit to the Budapest version for the next high-speed races in Las Vegas and Qatar.

In the final part of his prize package, 2023 Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award Winner and Rodin F3 driver Joseph Loake heads to Silverstone to test the Aston Martin AMR22 F1 Car.

Narrated and presented by Motorsport Engineer Blake Hinsey, we gets a behind-the-scenes look at how Aston Martin conducts a track test for a new driver, as well as insight from Joseph and his family on the emotional journey climbing the ladder of junior motorsport, and the thrill of driving an F1 car for the first time.

#f1 #josephloake #astonmartin

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