Joey Logano
Joseph Thomas Logano is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No.22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske. He previously competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, as well as what is now the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West.
Logano is the 2018, 2022, and 2024 NASCAR Cup Series champion. He previously drove the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing from 2009 to 2012, scoring two wins, sixteen top-five finishes, and 41 top tens. He also competed in the No. 02 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 96 Toyota Camry for Hall of Fame Racing, both in 2008 on a part-time basis.
Logano is currently the youngest ever winner in two of NASCAR's three top divisions. Logano's first major NASCAR win came during the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway in just his third start in the 2008 Nationwide Series. He became the youngest driver to win a Nationwide Series race at old. The previous youngest was Casey Atwood in 1999 at. Logano became the youngest winner in Cup Series history when he won the 2009 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at. The previous youngest was Kyle Busch in 2005 at. Logano is also the first NASCAR driver born in the 1990s to have competed in NASCAR's three major divisions. In 2015, he became the second-youngest Daytona 500 winner; only Trevor Bayne was younger.
Racing career
Early racing career
Logano began his racing career in 1996 as a six-year-old quarter midget racer living in Connecticut. In 1997, he won his first Eastern Grand National Championship in the Junior Stock Car Division. He followed it up with a Junior Honda Division Championship in 1998 and in early 1999 a Lt. Mod. Division Championship. Later in 1999, Logano won three New England Regional Championships in Sr. Stock, Lt. Mod, and Lt. B divisions. He spent a couple of years racing on various forms of pavement Late Model racing.Veteran Nextel Cup Series driver Mark Martin, who was driving for Jack Roush at the time, called Logano "the real deal"; when Logano was fifteen, Martin said "I am high on Joey Logano because I am absolutely, 100-percent positive, without a doubt that he can be one of the greatest that ever raced in NASCAR. I'm positive. There's no doubt in mind." Logano was also nicknamed "sliced bread" by two-time Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie.
In 2005, he ran in one FASCAR Pro Truck Series race at the New Smyrna Speedway, started first and finished second. He raced in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, competing seven times in the Northern Division, and winning once at Mansfield, two Southern Division races, and five Championship Series races. The following season, he continued racing in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series. He raced in twelve Southern Division races, winning twice at South Georgia Motorsports Park and USA International Speedway. He ran in one USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, Northern Division race, and six Championship Series races.
Image:JoeyLogano20BuschEastSeries2007Racecar.jpg|left|thumb|Logano's 2007 Camping World East Series championship racecar
In 2007, a new NASCAR rule allowed drivers aged sixteen and up to race in the Grand National Division, allowing Logano to compete in the series. He finished the 2007 Grand National season with 13 starts in Camping World East Series, winning five races, three poles, ten top-fives, and ten top-tens, and winning the championship with wins at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Iowa Speedway, two wins at New Hampshire International Speedway, and Adirondack International Speedway. He also has made one NASCAR West Series start at Phoenix International Raceway, where he started second and won in the No. 10 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. On October 20, 2007, Logano won the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway, leading 87 laps and held off Peyton Sellers for the win.
On May 4, 2008, Logano won the Carolina 500 during his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut with Venturini Motorsports in racing's return to Rockingham Speedway. Logano also made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut, at Talladega, in the Mountain Dew 250, starting sixth and finishing 26th. Logano attempted to defend his Toyota All-Star Showdown title he won in the 2007 season by driving in the January 2008 race and was disqualified for crashing into Peyton Sellers in an unsportsmanlike manner on the final lap, in an attempt to win the race. Not only was Logano disqualified but he was credited as having run none of the laps of the race completing zero laps.
Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series
Logano made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at the 2008 Heluva Good! 200 at Dover.Logano became the youngest winner in Nationwide history by winning his first major NASCAR series race at the 2008 Meijer 300 in only his third start, the previous holder of the achievement was Casey Atwood. On July 10, 2009, Logano won the Dollar General 300 by deciding not to pit unlike his teammate Kyle Busch, who took four tires with twelve laps to go. By leading the pack, the clean air made it easy to beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch by five car lengths making it the first time he won at the racetrack in Chicago. He took his fifth series victory at the Kansas Speedway after a late-race pass over teammate Kyle Busch. He earned his sixth Nationwide Series victory at the Auto Club Speedway. In April 2009, Logano won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Nashville. On July 1, 2011, he won the Subway Jalapeño 250 at Daytona International Speedway, avoiding a last-second crash. In mid-2011, Logano made a cameo appearance in the A&E series The Glades, in the episode "Moonlighting", as himself.
In 2012, he won nine times in the Nationwide Series. He won at Auto Club Speedway, after dominating the race in the Trans-Lux Camry. He won his second race of the season at Talladega Superspeedway after a push from Kyle Busch and holding off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cole Whitt. His third win of the year came with controversy after on a late restart, he took out Points leader Elliott Sadler and went on to take the win. His fourth win came at Dover International Speedway, after passing Ryan Truex with four laps to go after being held back in lapped traffic. His fifth win came at Michigan International Speedway after holding off James Buescher on the final restart. In August at Bristol, Logano took the lead from Kevin Harvick during pits and on the restart, he held off Elliott Sadler to win his first win at Bristol in his career. He went on the complete the year sweep of the Nationwide races at Dover, and in October winning his eighth race of the year at Charlotte. In November, he won the Nationwide race at Phoenix. This would ultimately be the final race win Logano would score in a Joe Gibbs Racing car. The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Nationwide car won the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Owners Championship mostly due in part to Logano's success in the car during the 2012 season.
In 2013 at Dover, Logano won both the NNS races for a third and fourth consecutive time in the Nationwide series. This made him the only driver to win four consecutive races at Dover in any series, and the all-time wins leader in the Nationwide Series at the track. In addition to his wins at Dover, he took home a Nationwide win at Chicagoland Speedway during a cup series off week in July. The Team Penske No. 22 car won the Nationwide Series owners title in 2013, a feat Logano has now contributed to three times in his career—once at Penske and twice at JGR. The 2013 Nationwide Series owners title was a first for Team Penske.
In May 2014 at Dover, Logano saw his four-race winning streak come to an end when Kyle Busch won the spring race at the track. Logano looked to be in a good position to win, starting from the pole for the fourth time at the track, but he was held up by Matt Kenseth for over sixty laps making Busch unreachable. He had to settle for a third-place finish. In his next start in the Nationwide Series at Michigan, Logano was leading with four laps to go and was well on his way to his first win of the season, but suffered a blown tire and was relegated to a 16th-place finish.
Logano started his 2015 Xfinity Series schedule at Atlanta by winning the pole and finishing second. In his second race of the season, Logano finally returned to victory lane in the Xfinity Series at Phoenix International Raceway on March 14, 2015. He won from the pole and led 176 of 200 laps. He also scored his 2nd career perfect driver rating by dominating the race. On April 18, 2015, Logano led every lap of the Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 at Bristol after starting 2nd. As a result, he scored his second Bristol win in the series and third career perfect driver rating.
On March 28, 2015, Logano driving for Brad Keselowski Racing started on Pole, led 150 of the 258 laps, and easily won his first Camping World Truck Series race in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville. He became the 26th different driver to win in all three major series, the first since his teammate and truck owner Brad Keselowski did it when he won the UNOH 200 Truck race at Bristol in August 2014. His first pole and win in the series came in his seventh career start. The 2016 Xfinity Series started well for Logano with a close second to Chase Elliott in the season opener at Daytona. In the coming races however the Penske No.22 car lacked the speed, it had done in previous years with Logano only able to take ninth at Bristol and seventh at Dover. In between these two races, Logano had been in contention for a victory at Talladega up until a last-lap crash relegating him to the 27th position. Charlotte, Pocono, and Michigan saw finishes of third, fifth, and sixth respectively. Logano would have to wait till Watkins Glen claim his first win of the season driving a secondary Penske entry the number 12 at Watkins Glen, the majority of the race was a hard-fought contest between Logano and Keselowski who would eventually encounter issues and retire allowing Logano to collect his 26th career win. Chicagoland saw Logano struggle again with a lack of speed driving the 22 to a seventh-place finish. Back in the number 12, Logano would take his 27th career win in the Drive for Cure 300 at Charlotte stealing the race win from a dominant Kyle Larson, this would be his second and final win of the year. His Xfinity Series campaign ended with a solid fourth at Kansas, unable to take the flagship 22 car to victory lane in 2016.
Logano returned to the Truck Series in 2022, driving the David Gilliland Racing No. 54 to a sixth place finish at the Bristol dirt race.
For the 2023 Truck Series season, Logano drove the ThorSport Racing No. 66 to victory at the Bristol dirt race after leading 138 of 150 laps.
In the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Logano replaced Hailie Deegan in the AM Racing No. 15 at the Chicago street race.