Page 49 - 2019_NPPG_digital copy

JOEY LOGANO

Birth Date: May 24, 1990 Hometown: Middletown, CT
Team: No. 22 Ford Mustang GT / Team Penske

Race fans watched Joey Logano grow up. He arrived at NASCAR in 2008
as an impressionable, if not naive, 18-year-old from Connecticut, and he
certainly went through some growing pains.

Now 28, he’s grown from being a kid who was overwhelmed by his role on 2018 FEATURED DRIVERS
the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to a championship.

Despite all the hits and misses along the way, Logano seemed destined
to being on top. Even before he was old enough to drive at the NASCAR
level, he was tagged with the nickname “Sliced Bread.” It was a nickname
that was hard to live up to, but one that eventually was proven true.

“You’re 18 years old or 19 or 20, and this is some pretty big stuff for a FOLLOW ONLINE
teen-ager to be able to go through, sitting up here, talking to you guys,
trying to handle all those situations,” Logano said. “I didn’t know what I
was doing. I still don’t really know what I’m doing, but just have a better @joeylogano joeylogano
idea of it, I guess.
joeylogano.com
“It was really hard. But like I said, it makes you stronger in so many
different ways.”
But it wasn’t always that easy. Logano’s had run-ins with several
Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch both won more races – eight apiece – drivers. Some of the accidents were his fault, but many were the result
but Logano came alive when it counted most – during the NASCAR that he struggled to find mature ways to fight back. In short, he was an
Playoffs, and particularly the championship-deciding season finale at the easy target.
Homestead-Miami Speedway. He qualified for the playoffs with a win at
Talladega in April, and he got to the Championship 4 with a victory last “As the kid growing up, I was an aggressive racer, and I was able
October at Martinsville. to win a lot of races,” he said. “I got humbled pretty quick. I guess
humbled is the word. I don’t know, I got beat up. I got pushed around
Once he got to South Florida, his No. 22 Ford was untouchable. He a lot. I wasn’t fast. I didn’t have no respect. Every sport is a mental
blew past Martin Truex Jr. with 12 laps remaining and ran away with a sport, so you have to really figure out how to be strong again and dig
1.725-second victory that made car owner Roger Penske a stock-car out of holes.”
champion for the second time.
Two of his most-notable moments came at Martinsville. In 2015 when
“Those are all special milestones, and for me, 33 championships that Matt Kenseth purposely crashed Logano as a payback for their run-in
gives us as Team Penske, and certainly to get the Indianapolis race, the two weeks earlier at Kansas. Kenseth was benched by NASCAR
Southern 500, and now to think that we’re the champion of 2018 for the for the final two races of the year; Logano was knocked out of the
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is something that I never imagined playoffs.
it at the beginning,” Penske said.
Last year, Logano used the same bump-and-run pass on Martin Truex
Brad Keselowski gave Penske his other Cup series championship in 2012. Jr. that’s been common for years at the half-mile short track.
While three drivers had more victories, Logano’s three wins last season “You’re right there at it, I get it,” Logano said. “It’s racing. It’s hard. Not
came at critical times. More important, eight of his 26 top-10 finishes – and everyone is happy about it. There’s going to be people that love it and
six of this 13 top-fives – came during the playoffs. people that don’t. That’s up to them to decide.

“It takes just the whole team to do this,” Logano said. It’s a team win for “I know what I had to do to get my team into the Championship 4 and
everyone, and I know it sounds so cliché, but man, it really is. It’s just it ultimately win the race.”
takes an army to do this.”
And without apologies.

THE OFFICIAL NASCAR 2019 PREVIEW & PRESS GUIDE 49