CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Joey Logano probably knows his way around Kentucky Speedway better than any other driver headed there this weekend.

With three wins in three Nationwide Series starts at the track, Logano has reason to believe he’ll have a strong run in Saturday night’s inaugural Sprint Cup Series event at Kentucky. And a two-week wave of momentum has Logano excited at the opportunity to continue his surge in the standings — and maybe get himself in contention for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

“I’m pretty pumped to get back to Kentucky, for obvious reasons,” Logano said. “Kentucky has really felt like a second home to me over the last couple of years in the Nationwide Series. We’ve had pretty good success there.”

Logano sure could use some of that success in the Sprint Cup Series given that what was supposed to be a breakthrough third season hasn’t gone as planned for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

He was a popular pick to make the 12-driver Chase this season, based on how strong he was in closing out 2010. But a mediocre Daytona 500 — he finished 23rd — and an engine failure the next week at Phoenix dropped Logano to 29th in the standings.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli has said this year’s tire combination has been hard on Logano, who has struggled finding the level of comfort he had at the end of last season.

“This tire has changed the way we’ve had to do a lot of things,” Zipadelli said two weeks ago.