Three Drivers In Need of a Vegas Bounce Back

The iconic Hall of Fame New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, an 18-time All-Star who won an incredible 10 of 14 World Series he appeared in, was famous not just for his baseball prowess (which was immense) but also his quotes.

Many of his Yogi-isms, as they became affectionately known, such as ‘It’s like deja vu all over again’ have entered the American lexicon. And there’s one Yogi-ism that’s pretty appropriate for several drivers even at this stage of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Season: ‘It gets late early’.

Now, it’s important to set some context here too; we are just two races into the season.

There are a full six months and 24 races to go until we hit the regular season finale. Add that to the ‘win and you’re in’ factor, and it’s even more the case. And after two drafting tracks and all the inherent chaos and unpredictability, this weekend’s visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway is in many ways the real start of the season.

LVMS is a bread and butter mile-and-a-half track on which performance will go a long way to assessing form for the long term. But as the late, great Yogi said, it gets late early and before you know it, you need to extricate yourself from a deep points hole.

So here are four drivers for whom it’s late early and are in need of a solid finish this weekend in Sin City.

Joey Logano: 31st in points, 30th place average finish, 72 laps led

After winning his second championship in 2022, it’s fair to say that Logano’s 2023 season was a bitter disappointment. With just one win and a first-round playoff exit, Logano appeared to lack speed all year.

So, to bounce back in 2024 with a pole in the Great American Race was just the start he needed. Logano paced the field for a race-high 45 laps in the 500 but a wreck (not of his own making) with nine laps to go finished his day. This past weekend, Logano led 27 laps but an ill-advised late Stage 2 block saw him caught up in a wreck that would finish his day as a contender.

To add to his woes, Logano was fined $10,000 on Tuesday for using a glove that had webbing between his thumb and forefinger — a modification that could have created an aerodynamic advantage. All told, it’s not been an auspicious start to the season for the 17-year, 545-race veteran. But with the new Fords appearing to be fast, don’t count the hard-nosed Logano out just yet. He’ll rebound just fine, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he has a solid…