Logano excited to be back at WWTR

Joey Logano had a fun Friday at World Wide Technology Raceway with the fastest lap in practice and getting a reminder of how much he enjoys the facility.

“I’ve missed it,” Logano said. “This is a fun racetrack. It was already fun out there, and memories are coming back from 2008 — although they repaved it — and the track is a fair amount smoother than it used to be.”

Logano finished second at WWTR in the ’08 Xfinity Series race, his only start at the track. He started fourth and led 42 laps driving for Joe Gibbs.

Friday, Logano ran the fastest lap in NASCAR Cup Series practice ahead of its debut race at the track. With sticker tires in the final few minutes of the session, Logano put down a 136.753mph lap to grab the top spot from Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney.

“Turns 1 and 2 are one of the best corners in our sport,” Logano said. “You can move around and try different things and you’re shifting. It’s fun to be able to get off the gas pedal and on the brake and manage both pedals again. I’ve enjoyed that.

“Turns 3 and 4 are a part of the track where you really got to push yourself and hustle it. It makes for a pretty fun track to go around by yourself. We’ll see what the race is like. It seems like 1 and 2 are already taking rubber, and cars are moving up the race track already.”

On the shifting aspect, Logano joked he felt like an 18-wheel trucker with the amount of gears he was grabbing.

WWTR is a 1.25-mile oval with two very distinct ends. Turns 1 and 2 are banked at 11 degrees, and Turns 3 and 4 are banked at 9 degrees.

Logano thinks Turns 3 and 4 are most similar to Turns 1 and 2 at Phoenix.

“There are also some differences,” he said. “You have a flat, long corner at Phoenix, and a banked corner in Phoenix, even though the shape is a triangle, and this is a true oval. The way the corners are laid out, there are some similarities there. You are definitely slowing down a lot more in [Turns] 1 and 2 here than you do at 3 and 4 in Phoenix.”

With 50 minutes of practice under his belt, Logano feels good for the rest of the weekend.

“As comfortable as you can be without racing yet,” Logano said. “But I feel pretty comfortable.”