THE MODERATOR: Joey, thank you so much for joining us today. Obviously a lot of positivity and energy around today’s announcement with the championship race moving to Homestead-Miami. You had the opportunity to win a championship in Phoenix and to also win a championship in Miami as well. Just talk about what it is like for you to go back to Miami, but ultimately with the news that the championship will rotate.

JOEY LOGANO: First, I’m sure everyone was surprised to hear this one. No one saw it coming.

I do think I love finishing the season in Miami. It’s something that I think as an industry all of us got so used to, right? End of the year, it’s cold in other places, you fly down to Miami, it’s nice and warm. We got used to what this weekend felt like under the lights, finishing the races.

I always thought it was a really cool environment to do it in Miami. I look forward to going back down there racing for a championship. I like that part. I like the rotation, as well. I like that we move it around. That was one of the things I thought would be a great idea if we were able to pull it off.

The Super Bowl doesn’t stay in the same place every year. Why should our Super Bowl, our championship race, stay in the same place every year?

Gives our fans a great opportunity to see the race, right? I know a lot of fans travel to the championship race already. There are also a lot of fans that are local that will get to have the opportunity to be able to make a weekend out of it with a short drive hopefully.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and go to the media for questions.

Q. We often hear that some driver’s opinions can be shaped what is in their own best interest. How come you’re not out going, Phoenix is the best thing ever, don’t move it, based on how good Team Penske has been there?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, on one hand I think we can win everywhere. We won in Miami before. Why can’t we win there again? I feel good about that.

Is there some drivers that are probably happier than others? Yeah, I can think of two or three that are pretty good in Miami that are probably really excited about today.

But I like to think that when you’re in the championship mode, there’s probably no (indiscernible) track for you. You can probably figure it out where you’re at. As a team, I feel like Team Penske is strong, we can go to many places and compete.

Yeah, as great as Phoenix has been, and it definitely has been, I still feel like we can win anywhere.

Q. We talked about moving the championship race. I guess with the Playoff Committee kind of still deciding what that looks like, have you had an opportunity to read the tea leaves or get an idea for what direction NASCAR might decide to go next year?

JOEY LOGANO: I don’t think there’s quite a clear direction on where things are going. You’re talking to a guy that thinks we have a great system. I would make minimal changes, if any.

There’s different opinions, right? All of us will have different ones, probably depending on where you’re sitting. I try to look the at it and ask what do I think is most entertaining?

As I watch the Truck Series or Xfinity Series, that’s what I am, a pure fan watching. What brings the most drama but also the most do-or-die moments?

As a fan of sports in general, I like watching people with their back up against the wall, have to perform or you’re going home. I love that. That’s what I love about the Playoffs. Our format does that, right? It gives everybody in the Playoffs an opportunity to go out there and show up when it matters the most. It also gives the opportunity for teams to create a huge advantage going into the Playoffs with the Playoff points that’s there.

I don’t know. I know no one wants to hear my opinion on it because we’ve been successful with it. I do feel like it’s pretty fun to watch, as well.

Q. Oddball question for you. You’re very good at doing activation, hospitality, media requests. Have you been incentivized this year by the driver ambassador program? Do you sense a bit of competition amongst you and your peers to kind of step up what you do?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, yes, to answer your question. I’ve always done the things before. I always did it because I care about the sport, right? I want the sport to live on past my career because that’s what the previous generation did for me, the previous generation did for them. They built this amazing platform. We need to continue to do that, right?

I realize I cannot do that on my own. I also think that no one should work for free. I don’t think that’s the case either. Every time you do something, you’re taking away from something else. I think being able to be incentivized to do things is not a bad thing. I think we’ve seen that throughout the whole sport with the drivers right now. They’re doing stuff, right? They’re out there. Whether it’s autographs at the souvenir haulers or media engagements, it’s traveling to do things that would never happen, never happen before.

Yeah, there’s a reason to go do it now. Not that there wasn’t before, but there’s extra reason to go do it. It seems to be working, for sure.

Q. If Joey Logano was able to make the next three or four final races as a schedule, what would they be? I work in the Myrtle Beach area. Darlington obviously a big spotlight here. Would Darlington be on that list?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I think one thing everybody thinks about is weather, right? South Carolina can be fine. That track would be in the mix.

Naturally you’re going to look at the tracks you’re good at, right? Like at Richmond, that’s one that would stand out to me.

I think Vegas would probably be in the loop.

Texas is obviously possible, depending on the weather. The weather there is pretty good.

I wouldn’t want to add into the rotation of a superspeedway. We should not end the season on a superspeedway. We should not end the season on a road course either. That’s my opinion.

When you get down to the nitty-gritty of the Playoffs, especially if it’s coming down to one race, like it is right now, you don’t want an oddball race, you want it to be the grassroots of what our sport is built off of, which is ovals, right? Whether it’s a short track or mile-and-a-half, that’s what our roots really are. That is what built our sport.

Throwing in a road course or any other oddball type racetrack, superspeedway, it’s too much by chance and it wouldn’t be ideal I don’t believe for our sport.

Q. You’ve made so many accolades in this sport. One thing that has not made it your way yet, the Coca-Cola 600, talk about what a victory would be like there?

JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, I mean, there’s two of them that really stand out to me. One being Indy, the other being the Coke 600. I’d like to win both of them. Both of them are crown jewel events.

The Coca-Cola 600 is special because of what it is. It’s also special because I’ve been a Coca-Cola racing family member for my whole career, from day one, 16 whatever years ago it was. It’s been a long time.

It would be really cool to click off that win on top of what that weekend already means. Memorial Day weekend means more to me than what the race is. It would definitely be neat to celebrate in Victory Lane there.

Q. I want to talk about the drama you mentioned. Everyone loves drama. When you have it going to different tracks for rotation for the championship, does that ramp up the drama level knowing that you automatically can’t pencil in Penske at Phoenix or Reddick or Larson at Homestead?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, I don’t think anyone can pencil anyone in no matter what. But I think we’ve seen in our sport that change is good when it comes to schedules. Even changing the rules, it’s usually good, makes better racing.

I think people, they like the unknown. They’re not exactly sure where things are going to play out, whether that’s moving to new racetracks we’ve never been to, we’ve seen that be very successful. I think moving the final race around, it’s not a bad idea.

Q. So many drivers over the years have remarked how much they have enjoyed Homestead-Miami Speedway. Between the layout of the track itself, the weather, the general location, what would you say is the primary reason that so many drivers are basically in love with Homestead-Miami Speedway?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, if you’re asking drivers, it’s about the track, right? The environment obviously is really cool. It’s different being in Miami. That’s a neat thing.

But the drivers, what we care about is the racing, right? Can we move around the racetrack, can we do different things, are the tires falling off, is that fun. To us, yeah, that’s fun.

Having a slick track that’s tough, challenging, a couple bumps there, you’re running up next to the wall, you can run a little bit off the wall, you can do stuff. That is something that is special, right?

Not to mention moving this championship race around, what it does for our sport and the racetrack and the facilities, right? Look what happened at Phoenix when they got their championship race. They redid the whole place. Looks beautiful. It brought a lot of new eyes to that racetrack.

Same thing will probably happen in Miami, right? I’m sure they’re going to look at ways to make the experience even better. If it moves around from there, wherever it goes, I think it will have the same effect.

There’s a lot of great things that happen with this.

Q. It was also announced that facility upgrades are coming to Homestead ahead of the upcoming race. Between the garages, the rest of the infield, the asphalt itself, what is the one aspect of Homestead that you would like to see upgraded ahead of the championship race?

JOEY LOGANO: Oh, man. I don’t know. I don’t know off the top of my head. It’s different for a driver sometimes to be commenting on that because I don’t get the full fan experience. You know what I mean? I’m not out there watching the race as a fan. I’m in the car, right? I’m not showing up with my family looking for parking. Maybe that’s an issue. I don’t know if it is or not. I don’t know what it’s like getting tickets, what it’s like trying to find your seats, get good food. I don’t see all that. What’s the garage experience like?

I can’t comment on it because it’s just different for me being inside the car, inside the sport.

Q. Is there a track that absolutely positively needs renovations before they’re awarded a championship race?

JOEY LOGANO: A couple of ’em. A couple, yeah. But the majority have kept up with the times. Not all of them, but a few of them have.

Q. Would Texas be one of them?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, Texas is one of the biggest facilities we go to. There’s a ridiculous amount of people there. They had a good crowd this week. They got the suites, condos. They got the stuff if you’ve been there. They got a lot of stuff there.

Q. When it comes to the racing surface itself, would that be something that needs an upgrade, reconfigure the track again?

JOEY LOGANO: I think it’s starting to come into its own. It’s getting better. We’ve seen that.

If you’re going to go out there and start lobbying for a track reconfiguration, know that you’re investing not only money but years before it’s going to be a good race. Repaves don’t typically do it. Every now and again they do it right. I don’t even know what they do to do it right. Doesn’t seem to be the same everywhere.

The investment of time into the resurface and the reconfiguration of Texas for it to be where it is now took I don’t know how many years since they paved it. Now there’s some decent racing, right? I watched all three races this weekend. It’s fine.

I think there’s racing, there’s passing. There’s other tracks that are worse, in my opinion. I think it’s not that bad.

Q. At the beginning you said the industry in this sport is changing. How do you feel it’s going to be a structure till the end of the year with the tracks? You’re going to Las Vegas, Miami. How do you feel it’s going to be?

JOEY LOGANO: I mean, I think like I said earlier it’s going to be a good thing for the sport, right? I think for the fans it’s good. For us, we’ll have to figure it out. The race teams will figure out how to do it. The schedule is always changing and evolving.

A point earlier that somebody brought up: what do the Playoffs look like in two years, next year? We’re not 100% sure yet. It’s hard to say exactly what things are going to look like, but we know at least the final race will be in Miami next year.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.

THE MODERATOR: Joey, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. We wish you the best of luck in Kansas.

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