NASCAR insider: Joey Logano deserves Kevin Harvick’s ‘closer’ nickname

Kevin Harvick was known as the “closer” throughout his two-decade plus NASCAR career. Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic says there’s a new Mariano Rivera in town, and his name is Joey Logano.

Logano hardly ever has the best car in the field. Very rarely is he the laps leader at the end of the race. And yet, he’s a three-time Cup Series champion. Why? Logano always knows how to be in the right place at the right time, Bianchi said on “The Teardown” podcast after Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.

“Kevin Harvick is retired now. We need to take that ‘closer’ nickname that he had, and we should just give it to Joey Logano. Like, Logano is the new version of the ‘closer.’ Hands down, that is just what he does,” Bianchi said. “He doesn’t lead a bunch of laps in races anymore outside of superspeedways, but he just puts himself in position and if he’s got a shot to win, he closes it out. So, we should bestow him with that nickname.”

Joey Logano nearly pulls off heroics at Kansas

Not long before Bianchi’s comments, Logano looked to have put himself in position to compete for the win at Kansas. Logano began the Lap 207 restart on the outside of the front row next to Kyle Larson. Yes, Larson eventually proved to be too much for Logano and the field, cruising to his third victory of the season after leading 221-of-267 laps.

But still, the fact Logano made it to the front was an achievement in itself. He finished ninth for his third top-10 of the season.

This Shell-Pennzoil team battled all day long,” Logano said after the race, via Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “We had a chance to control the race on a couple of those late restarts, but we’ll take a top-10 and build on it. The 22 crew was on it today and got us the track position we needed to have a shot at the front. Great day for those guys on pit road.”