The Cup Series race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) has already featured a historic moment. Joey Logano has broken a record previously held by seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty.
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Logano took the lead from Tyler Reddick on the opening lap of Sunday's Cup Series race, and he proceeded to check off several laps at the front of the pack. He officially led at least one lap in his 20th consecutive race at a drafting track.
This broke the record that Petty set when he led at least one lap in 19 consecutive drafting track races. Logano tied this record during the season-opening Daytona 500 and then he broke it at EchoPark Speedway.
Logano has actually led laps in 36 of the last 38 Cup Series races on drafting tracks. The lone exceptions are the July Atlanta race in 2022 and the October Talladega race in 2022.
The Talladega race, in particular, saw Logano making a deliberate choice to hang back. He wanted to ride near the rear of the field early so that he could avoid the wrecks as they happened.
These wrecks never occurred. This playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway only had one multi-car caution, which happened in the opening stage. Logano ultimately finished 27th.
"I'm not doing that ever again," Logano said when he returned to Talladega in 2023. "No. They never wrecked. I finished 30th when I raced.
"I didn't race, and I finished 30th, so I might as well race this year again and still have a chance to win."
Since giving up on this strategy to hang in the back of the pack, Logano has returned to contending for wins at drafting tracks. He finished second in the 2023 Daytona 500 and then he won the 2023 spring race at EchoPark Speedway.
He finished fifth in the 2024 Daytona 500 and won the 2024 playoff race at EchoPark Speedway. It was not all celebrations for Logano as he finished outside the top 25 multiple times at Talladega, Daytona, and EchoPark in this stretch, but he still continued to lead laps in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
This set him up to continue inching closer to Petty's record. Once he returned to EchoPark, he broke that record and added onto what will be a Hall of Fame resume.
