Joey Logano has etched his name in the same book as the greats of NASCAR, with three Cup titles with Team Penske. However, his rise has not been smooth. Some drivers encounter bumps early and learn the ropes while the stakes remain low. Others, like Logano, taste success early, then get a wake-up call when they align themselves with the sport’s greats.
Loganolit up the record books in the lower ranks, earning the nickname “Sliced ​​Bread” before reaching his teens. Barely a year after he started racing at age six, he took his first title at age seven in 1997. From there, the trophies kept coming. He won the Bandolero Bandits National Crown in 1999, the Young Lions National Championship in 2002, and the Pro in Legends National Championship, making him the youngest champion in that series. The wins continued to pile up in the K&N Pro Series East in 2007, ARCA, Late Models and even the Xfinity Series in 2008.
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But when he entered the Cup Series with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2009, that golden ride hit a wall. Reflecting on that time leading up to the Daytona 500, Logano explained how it all happened.
“It’s a tough place for a young child to grow up, it’s true, with all the hype. It can affect you in different ways and, unfortunately, mostly in bad ways,” » declared the Team Penske driver. on First of all. “Because I think you start drinking your own Kool-Aid, if you will. You start believing all the hype and you start thinking you’re so great. And you’re not going to work like you’re supposed to. Or you start getting a little arrogant. At some point, reality is going to slap you in the face.”
“When I got to the Cup level, the highest level of NASCAR here, I got the piece of the humble pie that I deserved. I competed against all the guys who were phenoms, right, growing up. And I got my butt kicked for three years before I could focus on things…”
“If I’m honest, I failed. I lost my job. I was at a point where I was like, ‘Uh-oh, what am I going to do the rest of my life?’ I’m 21 years old and I don’t know if I’m going to make it.”
At the time, his results left Joe Gibbs Racing struggles to obtain land sponsorship. When Roger Penske called Joe Gibbs and asked about Logano, acting at the urging of Brad Keselowski, Gibbs asked for a week while they tried to find sponsors for Logano. Without funding, options were slim for JGR. They would have either brought him back to Xfinity or released him.
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Penske stepped in and threw Logano a lifeline, and the move turned the young driver’s career around. But the struggles have left their mark. This difficult period taught Logano how to lose before he could learn how to win again. Each failure became a lesson, each misstep a brick to rebuild belief.
And since then, he has remained in the same camp, and this turning point still resonates in the way he behaves. This taught him to punch the clock and keep grinding. To this day, Logano reminds himself not to give up, keeping that hunger alive and striving to improve his game round after round.
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