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JOEY LOGANO

2018 CHAMPION

By Joe Menzer

As he climbed into his No. 22 Team Penske Ford for the final race “I got
of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season, Joey Logano humbled
had some prophetic words for Daniel Lynch, his interior mechanic. pretty
quick,”
“I’m getting in this car as a driver, and getting out as a champion,” said Lo-
Logano told Lynch. gano, who
won only
Three hours and 36 seconds later, Logano made good on his two races in
promise. Looked upon as the outsider in a Championship 4 show- 145 starts for
down in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with JGR over four
the other three contenders for the Cup title having dominated the full seasons and
headlines all season long, Logano passed Martin Truex Jr. with part of another. “I
12 laps remaining and cruised to his first championship. He also got beat up. I got
bested Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch, who along with Truex had pushed around a lot.
combined to win 20 of the season’s first 35 races. I wasn’t fast. I didn’t
have no respect.
It was the culmination of a long road back from a bumpy start to
Logano’s well-documented career in the Cup Series. “I think that beats up on your
confidence pretty quickly, and you
Logano was only 18 when he made his Cup debut for Joe Gibbs have to kind of dig back inside. Every
Racing in 2008. But it already had been three years since televi- sport is a mental sport and you have to really
sion commentator and former NASCAR driver Randy Lajoie (not figure out how to be strong again and dig out of
Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin as often has been reported) told holes.”
the world that Logano was so talented as a driver that he was the
“best thing since sliced bread.” Martin did add his own enthusias- For Logano, the long road to fulfilling the potential bestowed on
tic endorsement shortly thereafter by saying Logano was “the real him as a teenager began with the ultimate humbling experience.
deal” and already sufficiently equipped to excel at the Cup level. He was let go by Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the 2012 season
to make room for the addition of another veteran driver in Carl Ed-
Logano was 15 years old at the time. wards. JGR offered to put Logano in a full-time ride in what is now
the lower-level Xfinity Series, but he wanted to stay in Cup.
And now, looking back, he freely admits he was not ready to drive
in stock-car racing’s highest, most demanding series. He wasn’t So, he moved on to Team Penske after fellow driver Brad Ke-
ready even four years later when, at age 19, he was asked by selowski got in owner Roger Penske’s ear and told him he still
JGR to replace a championship driver in Tony Stewart when Stew- thought Logano had the chops to someday become a champion.
art left the company to start his own race team.

16 THE OFFICIAL NASCAR 2018 PREVIEW & PRESS GUIDE