There is no question the 18- year-old Sprint Cup Series rookie has struggled in his inaugural fulltime season with Joe Gibbs Racing, but two factors should aid him as the series moves to Phoenix International Raceway for Saturday night’s Subway 500.

The first is a big boost of confidence, as Logano is coming off a victory in last weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Nashville — his first series win since his victory at Kentucky last June.

“It’s been a long time coming since Kentucky last year and we should have won a lot more,” Logano said. “To get this is what this whole team needed.”

The second comes as a result of some actual on-track experience Logano has in hand.

While NASCAR suspended all testing on series tracks this season — a move which affects rookies more than any others because they used to get more tests — Logano participated in a two-day Goodyear tire test at Phoenix earlier this season.

Logano’s Cup crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, believes both the confidence and on-track experience should provide a solid foundation for the weekend.

“His Nationwide win is exciting for everyone involved. It’s his second win and the more he wins over there, the more people have the chance to see that he is for real,” Zipadelli said. “Hopefully he can take it to Phoenix, which is a place he’s run well.

“We had a tire test there so he’s had a chance to run some laps there. He was able to get two days in the new car and it allows us to at least have a starting point to work from with him instead of basing it off what we’ve done in the past with another driver.”

Logano called the win at Nashville “a big deal.”

“It’s big for me, it’s an awesome confidence booster for sure,” Logano said. “Looking and saying, ‘Hey, I can do this, I am here for a reason, I can win races.’ That’s big, just to reassure yourself of that.

“I’m sure this is just going to keep carrying on and now we just have to build on this momentum and keep going.”

Logano’s move to the No. 20 Toyota, driven last season by veteran Tony Stewart, has been a bumpy ride.

He attempted five Cup races last season, made two of them, and his best finish in the three races he drove in was 32nd
at New Hampshire.

Things have improved
some this season.
Logano has two top-10
starts in seven races
but just one finish
higher than 26th — a
13th at Las Vegas. He
has, however, completed
nearly 96 percent of all
laps run so far.

Logano said the
“one-team” approach at
JGR has helped him keep
grounded in the face of
adversity.

“Kyle (Busch) and
Denny (Hamlin), they help
me out so much as a driver
on the Cup side and then
all those three crew
chiefs over there
work well together
just like they do
(on the Nationwide
side) and you
have to be a team,
” he said.

“That’s what
we are — Joe
Gibbs Racing is a
team. Not the No. 18
(Busch) versus the
No. 20 (Logano) all
the time. It’s cool that
we race against each
other, but at the same time
we are still a team.”