LOUDON, N.H. — There will be plenty on the mind of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Joey Logano today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when the engines are fired for the New Hampshire 301.

Logano will be thinking about how best to assess his equipment, about preparing for pit stops and about weighing strategy options.

But one thing he won't be thinking about is getting injured while racing.

“You think about it, but not when you are in the racecar,” Logano said. “That is a huge distraction if you think about it in the racecar, and you will never win again.”

Dealing with injury as a driver was the hot topic of the weekend in Loudon as teams prepared for today's race, the first of two Sprint Cup events in 2016 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

On Thursday came the unexpected announcement that Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. would miss at least the New Hampshire 301 because he is suffering from concussion-like symptoms likely stemming from multiple wrecks in recent events.

And while Logano, 26, said he will not think about injuries while in competition, it doesn't mean it's a topic he ignores altogether.

“I think when I am away and not in the racecar, in the shop and talking about that stuff, it is something you should talk about,” said Logano, who will start sixth on the 1.058-mile flat Loudon oval. “Your safety and your life is something you should put some thought into. As I get older, I think about that stuff more often and don't do as many crazy things away from the racetrack as I used to. I think you just become smarter. You just know you shouldn't do things because you know what is on the line here at the track.

“In the racecar, I feel safe inside mine. I know Team Penske does a great job building our racecars and NASCAR has done a good job here recently on adding a lot of SAFER barrier to the racetracks and that has helped a ton with a lot of these hits. I thought last week, when I was going into the wall [during a Sprint Cup event at Kentucky Speedway], that it was going to hurt really bad. I thought possibly it was going to hurt me. I had three seconds to think about it before I hit the wall, and I thought it would be bad. I was fine, though, and I am really impressed with the safety that Team Penske and NASCAR have done to get these cars safer.”

Logano is fifth in the Sprint Cup points standings and is locked into the Chase playoff stretch with one victory this year.

His hope is that a visit home will get him back in the win column. Logano, a Middletown, Conn., native, became the Sprint Cup's youngest-ever winner when he won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as a rookie in 2009, though it was one of the more odd victories in NASCAR history. It was a day when the ultimate of lucky breaks got Logano a win. When rain came, most of the top contenders in the event were forced to pit for fuel. Logano, who had wrecked not long before the rain came and had plenty of fuel, essentially stole the victory when NASCAR made the decision to cut the event short because of weather.

On Sept. 21, 2014, Logano got the makeup win at New Hampshire he'd been looking for, winning in dominating style in the Sylvania 300.

“The first [win] it is what it is,” Logano said. “It is in the record books, so I take it. But it wasn't the way most wins come or the way any driver really wants to get them, but you take them any way you can. I have lost a lot since then that way. I am OK with taking that win the way we got it. Winning the second time the way we did meant more, yes. It felt to me like my first win at this track because we won it the right way.”