Last weekend's trip to Darlington Raceway provided three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano with a new experience. He went through the five stages of grief over the span of 293 laps.
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He took the green flag and then dealt with anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance before taking the checkered flag.
"Yeah, you go through them all," Logano said about a frustrating 33rd-place finish. "I don't know what to tell you. If you care about things and you try hard enough you're gonna feel those things when it doesn't go right."
Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric both finished top five in last weekend's race at Darlington Raceway. They both scored crucial points while trying to remain in contention for the Chase.
Logano, however, had a far worse experience. He struggled with a car that just could not do what he wanted, and he ended the day buried three laps behind the leaders. He left the historic track frustrated as he fell five spots in the Cup Series standings.
"First off, you're kinda like, 'What's going on? Where are we off,'" Logano told media members on Saturday. "And we're trying to fix it, and then you swing the bat a couple times, and you make minor progress, if any.
"Then you start to get pissed off — normal reaction — and then by the end, you're a little depressed, and then you're a little embarrassed at the end of all that.
"So you get all the negative emotions. It's part of competing, right? And it's part of like...if you want the glory of winning, sometimes you've got to go to the agony of defeat."
Logano has experienced considerable success during his career while winning 37 Cup races and three championships. He has experienced even more heartbreak considering that he has started 621 races since 2008.
He has learned that the frustrating days are certainly part of the process. Sometimes, you have to accept them and look at what you can do better the next time you visit the track.
He's also learned that having a knee jerk reaction to a bad performance may pay dividends in the immediate future while hurting the team in the long run.
He's not looking to make wholesale changes just because the No. 22 team had a bad performance at a track where it has previously celebrated a win.
"I did tell Paul (Wolfe, crew chief) last week — in all honesty — I said, 'If you told me I had full reins of the company and I can do whatever I want, I wouldn't change a thing,'" Logano said.
"'We got a great team, got a great pit crew. I got a great crew chief, great car chief. Everybody's good. We just had an off day, right? We just messed up.' So that happens at times, but doesn't mean you pull the panic button."
The team kept the status quo after the frustrating day at Darlington Raceway, and the attention quickly turned to Martinsville Speedway. This is a track where Logano and his team have displayed considerable consistency while finishing top 10 in the last 13 races and in 14 of the last 15 races.
The veteran driver will continue his pursuit of another strong run on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET (FS1). He will start ninth, and he will try to maintain his track position early so he can score some much-needed stage points. After that, he can try to push for his first win of the season.
