November 7, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Paul Wolfe got by with a little help from a friend

Preparation was key to Joey Logano winning the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship—and crew chief Paul Wolfe had all the bases covered.

The No. 22 Team Penske team had a head start after scoring the Las Vegas Motor Speedway victory three weeks prior to Championship weekend. That enabled the crew to massage the car for Phoenix to perfection and perform a deep dive on race strategy for the season finale.

Knowing Paul Wolfe’s attention to detail allowed Logano the luxury to concentrate solely on the job at hand. And his confidence, understandably, was at an all-time high entering the final round of the Playoffs.

“All the way through the weekend, when it came to practice and waiting for qualifying, we were in Paul's bus at 6:00 in the morning going through things,” Logano said. “That's what we all did as a group together.

“We were in there this (Sunday) morning at 7:00 going over stuff to make sure we were prepared for today. We made sure that there was no stone unturned when it came to preparing for this race. When you saw how confident I was and my team was, it's because we were truly ready.

“You can't fake confidence. You can maybe show it a little bit, but truly deep down inside, you have to believe, if you're going to be ready for this battle ahead of you. I never felt more ready, and a lot of credit goes to Paul, for taking the time and the effort and forcing us to do it together as a team.

“There's plenty of crew chiefs that are up that early. I get it. But they're not doing it together with their whole team, and I think that's the difference-maker for us.”

Both Wolfe and Logano had been to the Championship 4 round before and emerged victorious. Wolfe delivered Roger Penske his first Cup title in 2012 with Brad Keselowski. Six years later, Logano advanced to the final four with crew chief Todd Gordon and hoisted the Cup.

But for the last three seasons, NASCAR’s top Chevy and Toyota organizations have forged successful championship runs. It was time to bring the Cup home to the Captain. All week long, Logano was convinced he had the team to beat. Wolfe concurred.

“It's so hard to win these things,” Wolfe said. “I told a few people this before the weekend, we knew we were prepared the best we could be. We had the speed when we unloaded, and it was just—you get into this race and you just don't want to screw it up. There's so much work by a lot of people back at the shop and the guys on this team and our teammates. So much goes into it, and you just don't want to have a mistake during that race.

“Trying to go through all of the scenarios with the strategy as the race is playing out, as we've seen that affect how some of these races play out at the end. My engineers do a great job of trying to give me the best information we can. And when we had the lead there at the end with 30 to go, you're kind of playing those scenarios: What are we going to do if the caution comes out? How many laps to go? Two tires, four tires, stay out?”

Perhaps the most stressful moment of the afternoon was in the closing laps of Stage 2 during a 96-lap green-flag run. NASCAR estimated that a full tank of fuel would carry a driver for 90 laps. As the stage was coming to a close, Logano insisted on knowing where the team stood on fuel mileage.

“I think he was a little on edge, as I was, as well,” Wolfe said. “There were some moments I got pretty hard on my engineers like we need to know what we've got to do here, guys. The guys we were racing for the championship, looked like they got into save mode. Track position is big. The clean air is big. The 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) was kind of pressuring us. We had saved some. That was a tough moment.

“It's hard balancing those moments of what to do and trying to give Joey all the information we could. Because I get it at times, he's out there and feels like he needs more information to do the best he can, and it's never super simple, obviously, or clear-cut, and we're trying to make the best decisions kind of heat of the moment.That was a tough spot in the race, but we got through it. We got through it.”

Little did anyone outside of Wolfe’s inner circle know that he had a secret weapon—and it wasn’t inside the walls of Team Penske. Wolfe was texting his long-time friend and confidant Rodney Childers during the race to use his fellow crew chief as a sounding board and for a second opinion.

“I think Ford has done a great job of trying to help us through the playoffs, and there's a lot of guys—Rodney and I have a great relationship and friends, and he's helped me through the playoffs, and we try to talk a lot and be better as one Ford team,” Wolfe said. “I was texting him throughout the race, like what are you guys thinking? What would you do?

“So being in open communication with the other Ford teams I think was good. Maybe it makes those decisions a little easier if you do get the caution, just understanding where those guys are at and stuff.”

Leaning on one another isn't anything new for Wolfe and Childers, who raced himself prior to moving into a crew chief role in 2005. Since 2014, Childers has called the shots for Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team. Their first year together, Childers and Harvick won the Cup title—their first of five appearances in the Championship 4.

Who better to rely on than a fellow championship-caliber crew chief?

“We have that relationship,” Wolfe confirmed. “Rodney and I have what I would consider a pretty good relationship. We try to help each other when we can and bounce ideas off of each other.

You know, I have thoughts, but everyone —all the other crew chiefs might think something different, so I always try to, like, all right, what were some other guys thinking about; am I thinking the right way; what's going to be the right call.

“It's good to have another perspective. So yeah, there's guys in the garage you can trust and there's guys you can't. I think Rodney and I have a great relationship, and I appreciate that.”

Certainly, it helps to have another crew chief with an understanding of the Mustangs and the One Ford mentality as well. But Childers says their bond goes deeper than that.

“We are good friends,” Childers said. “We talk every week. We share air pressures every week. This past week, we talked every day—springs, tires, strategy, etc.

“It’s not a Ford thing. It’s a good friend thing.”

And on Sunday, Wolfe and Logano enjoyed the direct benefits of that friendship.