LOGANO CHARGES INTO 2011

Traveling to one of the many interviews he has scheduled between now and the beginning of Speedweeks, the Connecticut native said he was looking forward to the heat.

“I’m ready for that to change,” he said. “It’s 23 degrees right now, so to heck with that.”

While he was commenting on the weather, there is a double meaning involved.

Over the final six races of 2010, Logano was as hot as anyone on the track, finishing seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third…and 39th at Homestead, thanks to a shove from Juan Pablo Montoya that destroyed his Home Depot Toyota.

That kind of momentum is what many feel will carry the soon-to-be-21-year-old driver to the Chase this season. The question is, can he carry that momentum from the end of the season to the start of this one?

“I don’t see why you can’t take all that into 2011,” he said. “We all know we can do it, and momentum is just confidence. That’s the biggest thing it is. I don’t see why we can’t.”

Ever since he splashed onto the scene as a talented teenager, Logano has been hearing about the learning curve he faces to make it NASCAR’s top series. Today, he feels like the slope is less Mount Everest and more like an easy peak in the Berkshire Hills.

“I don’t think the best of the best ever stop learning,” he said. “You’re always trying to find something new, always looking for something, and I think that’s a central part of this sport or any sport. People just want to keep improving.

“That’s part of it. I feel like we’re getting really close to where we need to be over here, too. We showed that at the end of the season, how close we were, and that we can do this. We’re pretty close now.”

Since breaking in at the start of 2009 as an untried rookie, Logano and crew chief Greg Zipadelli have grown into a formidable duo. The fact that they share a common bond by racing in the Northeast helps, but the real difference is the team Zipadelli has put together in support of the youngster.

“I have a very strong team behind me,” Logano agreed. “Obviously, some things are going to be different, like the new nose…but I’m sure they’ll figure that stuff out. It’s going to be the same for everybody, and we’re going to have to adapt. I feel like we’re going into this season with a lot more confidence than last year, and we know we can do it.”

Logano has flashed brilliance before, just not on a consistent basis. The middle of the season is something he’s looking at changing for the better this year.

“The biggest thing we’re going to have to focus on is those summer weeks where we struggled last time,” he said. “Most of my toughest race tracks are there, so we have to figure that out.”

Making the Chase is the primary goal, according to Logano. He feels like he’s got the team, the car and the experience to do it, and there’s no time like the present, right?

“Obviously, [our top goal is] to make the Chase. That’s our biggest goal, and if we can win a race or two I’m all about that. Of course, we go there every week to try and win the race, but the Chase is definitely the goal. If we do what we did at the end of the season, there’s no reason why we can’t.”

But before the Chase can begin, he has to put himself into position, and that positioning begins with the Daytona 500. Daytona is not a track where Logano has excelled, with an average finish of 27.8. Crashes have contributed mightily to that number.

“You never know what is going to happen at Daytona, but we’ll know a lot more this week when we get down for the test,” Logano said. “That’s a big deal to see what we have there. The new track, the new nose, all the cars are going to be there…”

The new nose, which is more like the NASCAR Nationwide Series piece than the old Sprint Cup Series nose, will play a key role in how fast the team develops. That it is similar to the Nationwide nose plays into Logano’s hands, because he’s driven the new car a couple of times.

He has yet to test the new Cup nose, however, so there’s a bit of knowledge gap as to what he’s going to have once he lets loose on the newly paved superspeedway.

“It’s going to be hard to say, especially at Daytona,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy to get a good read on it because it’s so different from every other mile-and-a-half or mile that we go to. That’s going to be different. We’re still going to be able to push draft and do all that, but it’s going to be interesting to see what we have when we get to the mile-and-a-half stuff.”

As for Nationwide Series competition, NASCAR’s new rules limiting drivers to championship points in only one of the top three divisions don’t seem to have much effect on what he’ll do in the junior circuit this season.

“We’re at 22 [Nationwide Series] races now,” Logano said of his schedule. “We originally planned to go 27, but we’re still looking for sponsors for five races. It all kind of depends on sponsorship right now, but I know I have 22 right now and could have up to 27.”

One missing piece in the team this year is engineer Adam Stevens, who has gone on to be a crew chief in the formidable Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series program. Stevens has been the engineer for Logano since he started, but that doesn’t seem to faze him in the least.

“We’ll be fine,” Logano said of Stevens’ departure. “Zippy has been there for a long time and he’s been through a couple of engineers. I’m confident he’s replaced him with the right guy, and I think we’ll hit the ground running.”

Hitting the ground running is key to Logano’s Chase hopes, and if momentum is any indication, they’re already at full speed.