MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Joey Logano admits he can't come to Martinsville Speedway and not at least briefly think about what happened at the track one year ago.
But Logano won't think about it all that much and certainly won't dwell on how his 2015 championship hopes came to a crashing halt when Matt Kenseth, nine laps down, waited for Logano -- the leader -- to pass him and then drove him into the Turn 1 wall.
Logano didn't run well enough the two following weeks to get out of the deep hole created by the Martinsville crash, and he failed to advance out of the round to vie for the championship. He saw a season with six wins turn into a sixth-place finish in the standings.
"If I'm thinking about that as I'm turning into Turn 1, I'm probably going to hit the wall just like that because I'd be pretty distracted," Logano said Friday morning prior to practice at Martinsville. "This track can sneak up and bite you pretty quick.
"You have to just be focused -- not on that, I can promise you -- [but] focused on how to go fast. I wouldn't think about that the whole time I'm out there. I promise you that."
Kenseth, who had partially blamed the unrepentant Logano for Kenseth's failure not to advance from the previous round after Logano wrecked him for the win at Kansas -- and then felt he was wrecked by Logano's Penske teammate Brad Keselowski earlier in the Martinsville event -- was suspended for two races. Both Kenseth and Logano are among the eight drivers who remain in contention for the 2016 title.
"Honestly, you're never going to erase [last year] from your mind," Logano said. "I'm not going to lie to you. I'm not going to say that.
"But I will say I don't focus on it. If I focus on it, that's a distraction of what my main goal is, which is to win -- not think about what happened last year. If I can use it to motivate me, I'm going to use that to help me win."