Kevin Harvick: No. 22 team never told Joey Logano about pit crew change during Phoenix championship race

Kevin Harvick shared some interesting information about a pit crew change in Joey Logano’s team during the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix. On Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick talked about his conversation with Logano and asked him if he knew about a pit crew member getting sick which led to a change.

“I asked Joey what were you thinking, and he was like ‘I didn’t know.’ They didn’t tell him,” Harvick said. He didn’t ask until after the race. I thought that was interesting. But it’s like Joey and I talked it’s pretty intriguing to see how quickly all those pieces fell and it shows you the structure organization the plan that Penske had put in place because it was boom, boom, boom. We had three team jackmen change, and Joey’s car never missed a beat.

“They had great pit stops for the rest of the day and from Joey’s words, it says a lot about the system that Penske has and the culture of keeping things as much the same as possible. That jackman and the system that they used for their pit stops went right in and performed well.”

The move helped Joey Logano win the race and his third Cup Series championship. During the post-race press conference, Logano’s crew chief Paul Wolfe was asked about making the change and the depth of its pit crew.

Joey Logano’s crew chief talks about pit crew change at Phoenix

“I think that just shows, obviously, how well we work together as a company and how there’s always one common goal, right, and this weekend it was about making sure the 22 and the 12 had the best chance they could at racing for this championship,” Wolfe said.

“I don’t think it was a hard decision for anyone to be able to grab Pat and come on over, and it was really seamless. We had solid stops for a guy just jumping in that didn’t practice all week. He did a great job, and it’s nice to know that we have that ability in these moments to be able to step up and not really affect our race at all.”

Logano beat out Penske teammate and 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, 2024 Cup Series regular-season champion Tyler Reddick and William Byron to win the title. He’s the 10th driver in NASCAR history to win at least three Cup Series championships.”