MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Don’t call Joey Logano “stale bread,” but he’s certainly not the kid he was when he broke into NASCAR racing with the nickname — “Sliced Bread.”
The two-time and reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion will become the 34th driver in NASCAR history to make his 600th Cup Series start on Sunday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.
It’s certainly an occasion for Logano to reflect on where he’s been and where he’s headed.
“At first glance, I said, ‘Well, it’s just starts.’ But then when you start thinking about it, to be able to be around in a sport as an athlete competing at a top level for 16-plus years, and hitting 600 starts, it’s pretty incredible to have a career that long,” Logano said during a call with the media on Tuesday. “It’s something that I take some pride in. I’m proud of that, to be able to hit this marker. It’s a lot of starts.
“I remember my 300th start and I think it was Kenseth at the time, maybe it was Truex as well, that weren’t too far from 600 and I thought, ‘Geez, that’s double the amount of races as me. That’s crazy.’ But here I am, so it went by pretty quick. It’s been a heck of a ride. This sport has been awesome to me and my family and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
However, the Team Penske driver was a teenager when he made his Cup Series debut with Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I grew up in front of everybody. All of us change over the years as you grow up. Life comes at you and you evolve and keep going with it,” Logano said. “Everybody, when you were 18 years old to 35 years old are some of the biggest changes in your life happen in that period of time. Getting married, having kids – that’s the biggest change you can ever have in your life, I think – but I did all of this in front of everybody.
“Everybody went for the ride with me in ways, and not to mention the lessons learned on the racet rack and how I’ve changed as a race car driver, too, over that period of time, where I was a young, cocky kid coming in to getting my humble pie and learning how to become a champion and learning a lot of lessons in front of everybody.
(HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)
“It’s kind of neat that race fans have been around that long and they see the evolution, if you will, of myself and, like you said, it’s interesting to publicly grow up in front of people, but it’s part of what sports are and being in the limelight, but it’s been a heck of a ride, for sure.”
Logano made it clear that he’s not ready for the rocking chair yet.
“I always say as long as I can win. I really feel like that’s the standard for me. I love racing, but I really love winning a lot more,” Logano said. “If I can go race other things and win, I’ll go and do that, but my dream has always been to be a NASCAR driver, be a NASCAR champion and if I can win and be a help to my team, then I want to stick around.
“As soon as I feel like I’m a drag on the team and I’m not bringing anything to the table anymore, whether that’s on the race track or off the race track, that’s when I need to get out of the way at that point,” Logano added. “I want to see Roger Penske and his race team and the people that are there be successful. I care about them a lot, so I want to be a way to contribute to that. That’s what I want out of myself.
“If I was Roger Penske, I would expect that out of an employee, especially for as long as I’ve been there. That, to me, is gonna be the deciding factor when that is. I don’t want to stick around and be one of those guys where people say, ‘Man, he went a few years too long.’ You don’t want to be that guy.”
