What makes a driver gamble everything when the numbers say play it safe? Joey Logano used a shove rather than a pass to win at Martinsville in 2018. In what Martin Truex Jr. later referred to as “a cheap shot,” he sent him up the track and won the race by slamming his bumper into him on the last lap. He stated without apology, “It’s what I had to do, baby. It’s short-track racing.” That was a warning as much as a victory.
Daring was not meant to be favored in Texas. The track rewarded discipline, rhythm, and track position. However, all of that was forgotten in the final laps. What transpired was something explosive, unpolished, and wholly Logano; it was not just strategy or speed. It was the sort of action that leaves opponents wondering where the line is between recklessness and bravery, spotters stunned, and crew chiefs white-knuckled. However, neither the finish nor the figures are deceptive.
Texas turns tactical as Logano masters mayhem
Joey Logano’s triumph at Texas Motor Speedway’s 2025 Würth 400 was a supreme example of decisiveness under pressure and unwavering resolve. Logano started the race in 27th place and worked his way through the field to set himself up for a late-race confrontation with Michael McDowell. The intensity reached its climax with four laps left when Logano made a risky move that would decide the outcome of the race. Logano said, “We were way down there. So I finally got underneath him, and eventually, as a driver, you’re in that spot and you’re like, ‘Okay, I have to straighten out the wheel here, right? And it’s gonna be wrecked. I can only go so far down before I’m gonna have to turn back, right? And it is gonna get ugly.“
In a post-race interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Logano recounted the pivotal moment. “McDowell stayed down at the bottom, one lap longer than I thought he would. He went to the bottom of that lap; I went to the second lane… I got up there at the top, and I got to the gas, and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re done. This is it. This is the run.” As Logano attempted to overtake, McDowell initiated a defensive block, forcing Logano perilously close to the inside wall. The situation escalated as Logano described. “We’re going all the way, like I will not lift. I’ll be going down through this inside wall, and if we wreck, we wreck.”
Joey Logano almost scraped the wall during the maneuver, which stretched the boundaries of control as he made his way along track margins covered in debris. After a while, McDowell gave in and allowed Logano to finish the pass. The high-risk element of the struggle was highlighted by McDowell’s final crash and consequent loss of position. “It is just hard to get your car — to be strong in 1 and 2, you are going to be on edge in 3 and 4. I feel like my car was good, and that is how I felt. I have to look back at it and see what I could have done differently, but in the end, I think I am more afraid of being slow than spinning out like that,” Logano said post-race.
Logano’s victory was his 37th Cup Series triumph overall and his first of the 2025 campaign. It also demonstrated his aggressive yet strategic driving style, which was evocative of his prior championship runs. Logano’s tenacity was demonstrated during the race in Texas, which also brought to light the extremely narrow margins that characterize success in NASCAR’s top series.
“You have to make the move, you don’t have an option”
@JoeyLogano breaks down his pass of @Mc_Driver on the bottom to get to the lead at @TXMotorSpeedway.
More #BehindTheWheel –> https://t.co/keYsFmunJW pic.twitter.com/dnK3AD3Nv1
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) May 7, 2025
“I just really hate it for everyone on this No. 71 Chevrolet. We were giving it everything we had there to try to keep track position. Joey got a run there, and I tried to block it. I went as far as I think you could probably go. When [Ryan] Blaney slid up in front of me, it just took the air off of it, and I just lost the back of it. I still fought for me, but I probably should have conceded at that point,” McDowell said.
In a last-ditch effort to block, Michael McDowell ran Logano to the apron, but it was insufficient. Ryan Blaney, Logano’s teammate, also passed him, but he continued to push, falling back to third. He ended his day by slamming the outside wall after losing control in the filthy air from Blaney’s car. The moment McDowell’s race came to a crashing end, his crew chief dropped his head in his hands in shock. McDowell exits Texas in 26th place despite his heroic efforts.
The Mental Edge That Sets Joey Logano Apart
It took more than just horsepower or pit strategy for Logano to win spectacularly at Texas in 2025; he needed vision. And not merely in a symbolic sense. Logano’s ability to “see it in color that nobody else does” has long set him apart from the pack, according to his former crew chief, Todd Gordon. “Joey’s mental ability is top three in the garage. He understands what people will do and how he can put them in bad positions,” Gordon said in a recent interview.
Gordon saw this quality firsthand during their 2018 championship run, especially amid high-stress situations like the last lap at Martinsville, where Joey Logano pushed Martin Truex Jr. aside to win the race that led to his eventual victory. This mental sharpness is about control as much as violence. Logano turned restarts into his playgrounds by anticipating lane changes and draft actions before others could respond in events like Kansas 2020 or Gateway 2022. He drives a few steps ahead of time rather than only in the present.
That strategic foresight is rooted in a philosophy Logano revealed as far back as 2017: “We do things very differently. Car setups are different. I know our strategies are different. Our approach to a weekend is odd, but we found what works for us,” Logano had said. Now, Team Penske is ingrained with that “odd” mentality. Logano and his team have made unconventional thinking work to their advantage, from constructing asymmetric setups for improved late-race balance to taking a chance on fuel strategy. That same mentality drove Logano’s no-lift move at Texas under Michael McDowell; he knew the limits of his vehicle and his opponent’s psychology, so he committed when others might have braked.
Joey Logano’s thinking is the x-factor in a sport where parity—identical equipment, similar horsepower, and strictly controlled setups—is becoming more and more important. He does calculations as others respond. And he doesn’t flinch when the time comes. In full color, he sees it coming.
The post ‘It’s Gonna Get Ugly’: Joey Logano’s No-Lift Gamble That Upset the Field at Texas appeared first on EssentiallySports.
