Joey Logano

Joey Logano
Born	(1990-05-24) May 24, 1990 Middletown, Connecticut, United States
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	140 lb (64 kg)
Achievements	2007 Busch East Series Champion Youngest Nationwide Series winner (18 years, 21 days) Youngest Sprint Cup Series winner (19 years, 35 days)
Awards	2009 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
162 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 22 (Penske Racing)
2012 position	17th
Best finish	16th (2010)
First race	2008 Sylvania 300 (Loudon)
Last race	2013 Quicken Loans 400 (Michigan)
First win	2009 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Loudon)
Last win	2012 Pocono 400 (Pocono)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 48 5
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
115 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 22 (Penske Racing)
2012 position	99th
Best finish	8th (2010)
First race	2008 Heluva Good! 200 (Dover)
Last race	2013 Alliance Truck Parts 250 (Michigan)
First win	2008 Meijer 300 (Kentucky)
Last win	2013 5-hour Energy 200 (Dover)
Wins Top tens Poles 19 90 22
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
3 race(s) run over 2 year(s)
Truck no., team	No. 19 (Brad Keselowski Racing)
Best finish	91st (2008)
First race	2008 Mountain Dew 250 (Talladega)
Last race	2013 SFP 250 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of June 16, 2013.

Joseph Thomas "Joey" Logano (born May 24, 1990), nicknamed "sliced bread" (as in the greatest thing since) by Randy LaJoie, is an American stock car auto racing race car driver who drives the No. 22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford Fusion in the Sprint Cup Series for Penske Racing. He previously drove for Joe Gibbs Racing from 2008 to 2012, collecting 2 wins, and 41 top-10 finishes.

Logano's first major NASCAR win came during the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway in just his third start in the 2008 Nationwide Series. Logano made history becoming the youngest driver to win a Nationwide Series race at 700118000000000000018 years, 700121000000000000021 days old. The previous youngest was Casey Atwood in 1999 at 700118000000000000018 years, 7002313000000000000313 days. Logano became the youngest winner in Sprint Cup Series history when he won the 2009 Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at 700119000000000000019 years, 700135000000000000035 days. The previous youngest was Kyle Busch in 2005 at 700120000000000000020 years, 7002125000000000000125 days. Logano is now the youngest winner in two of NASCAR's three top divisions. Logano was also the first NASCAR driver born in the 1990s that has competed in NASCAR's three major divisions.

Racing career

Early racing career

Logano is the youngest child of an Italian-American family. He began his racing career in 1996 as a 6-year-old quarter midget racer living in Connecticut. In 1997 Logano won his first Eastern Grand National Championship in the Jr. Stock Car Division. He followed it up with a Jr. Honda Division Championship in 1998 and in early 1999 a Lt. Mod. Division Championship. Later in 1999 Logano won 3 New England Regional Championships in the Sr. Stock, Lt. Mod., Lt. B. divisions.

Logano's family then moved to Georgia. The transaction allowed Logano to win a Bandolero Bandits Series Championship. At age 10 he went on to racing Legend cars, where he set a 14-consecutive winning streak track record at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, along with a Lions National Championship. At age 12, Logano won the Southeast-based Pro Legends National championship. Afterwards he spent a couple years racing various forms of pavement Late Model racing.

Veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Mark Martin, who was driving for Jack Roush(Roush Fenway Racing) at the time, called Joey Logano "the real deal". When Logano was 15, 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."

In 2005, he ran in 1 FASCAR Pro Truck Series race at the New Smyrna Speedway, started 1st and finished 2nd. 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 at USA International Speedway. He ran in one USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, Northern Division race and six Championship Series races.

Logano's 2007 Camping World East Series championship racecar

In 2007, a new NASCAR rule allowed drivers 16 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 5 races, 3 poles, 10 Top 5's, and 10 Top 10's, 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 1 NASCAR West Series start at Phoenix International Raceway, where he started 2nd and won in the #10 Joe Gibbs Driven 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 6th and finishing 26th. Logano attempted to defend his Toyota All-Star Showdown title he won in the 2007 season by driving in the January 2009 race (the 2008 season race), and was disqualified for crashing into Peyton Sellers in an unsportsmanlike manner on the final lap, in an attempt to win the race.

Nationwide Series career

Logano holds his trophy for winning the pole position in Nashville

Logano made his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at the Dover International Speedway in the 2008 Heluva Good! 200.

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, 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 Joey 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 has won 6 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 year 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 Raceway, after passing Ryan Truex with 4 laps to go after being held back in lapped traffic. His most recent win came at Michigan International Speedway after holding off James Buscher on the final restart.

In August following a caution Joey Logano took the lead from Kevin Harvick during pits and on the restart he held off Eliott Sadler to win his first win at Bristol in his career; Sadler made contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and fell to fifth.

Sprint Cup Series career

Logano's first cup practice at Richmond International Raceway

On August 25, 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing called a press conference to announce that Logano would drive the #20 Home Depot Toyota Camry in the 2009 Sprint Cup Series. Logano replaced Tony Stewart who left JGR to drive for his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing. Logano was also a candidate for the 2008 Rookie of the Year award, and was scheduled to make his first Sprint Cup start in the #02 Home Depot car at Richmond, but failed to qualify for the event.

On August 28, Hall of Fame Racing announced that Logano would drive five races in their #96 car during the 2008 Sprint Cup Series. His official debut was in New Hampshire on September 14, by starting that race, he became the first NASCAR driver to run a cup race that was born in the 90s. On September 5, Joey Logano made his first appearance in a Sprint Cup car at Richmond International Raceway in the two-hour-long Friday practice for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400. Due to Tropical Storm Hanna, qualifying was rained out. A NASCAR rule states that when qualifying is rained out, the top 43 drivers in owners points are then set for the race. Logano was not in the top 43 in owners points, so he did not get to debut.

Logano is the youngest post-modern-era driver to compete full-time in NASCAR's top division (Records show drivers as young as 15 competing in NASCAR's top division. A 2002 rule change mandated that drivers had to be 18 to compete in a national touring series; 16-year-olds can compete in regional divisions such as the Camping World East and a 2010 adjustment allowed 14-year-olds to compete in the Whelen All-American Series).

2009–2012

In 2009, Logano finished 4th in his first Gatorade Duel, and would become the youngest driver to ever start in the Daytona 500, however, he would crash midway through the race. Logano's first three starts in the Sprint Cup Series saw three finishes of 30th place or worse. Las Vegas was his sixth start in the Sprint Cup Series, he finished 13th. In April, Logano finished ninth for his first top-ten finish at Talladega; later that month at Darlington, he led 19 laps late in the race and finished ninth. Logano was the fan vote for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, and finished in 8th place.

On June 28, 2009, Logano won the rain-shortened Lenox Tools 301 at Loudon, New Hampshire, beating 4-time cup champion Jeff Gordon and former Home Depot #20 driver Tony Stewart, becoming the youngest winner ever in NASCAR's top racing series at the age of only nineteen years, one month and four days old.

On November 22, 2009 Logano was crowned the official 2009 Sprint Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of The Year, having beat out other rookies Scott Speed and Max Papis.

Logano won his first Coors Light Pole Award on March 19, 2010 for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Crew chief Greg Zipadelli left the #20 team at the end of the 2011 season to become the competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing. Jason Ratcliff was named Logano's new crew chief beginning with the 2012 season.

In 2012, following several wins in the Nationwide Series, Logano won his second Sprint Cup Series race at the Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway, after overtaking Mark Martin with four laps to go, and holding off Martin and Tony Stewart. Logano became the first driver in 30 races to win a race from the pole position. It was also the first time Logano had won a race that had gone the scheduled distance.

On September 4, 2012, it was announced that Logano would be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and heading to Penske Racing's No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford in 2013, following an announcement that Matt Kenseth would drive the No. 20 Toyota.

2013

Logano during the 2013 STP Gas Booster 500

Logano moved to the #22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford for Penske Racing in 2013. He finished 17th at Bristol after losing control after contact with former teammate Denny Hamlin. Late in the race it would appear that Logano would pass Hamlin on the track, but both had issues and Hamlin finished 23rd; Logano claimed that his former teammate intentionally wrecked him. The next week, at Auto Club Speedway, Logano had his breakout race with Penske, leading 41 laps, but on the last lap, he and Hamlin made contact and Kyle Busch went on to win. Hamlin was injured in the crash and after the race Logano was confronted by Tony Stewart, who slipped back to 22nd after Logano blocked him on the final restart. Stewart pushed Logano and Logano responded by throwing a water bottle at Stewart.

Just before the start of the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, both Penske Racing cars of Logano and teammate Brad Keselowski failed pre-race inspection due to an issue with the cars' rear-end housings. Logano was forced to start from the rear of the field because his car wasn't on the starting grid until after the command had been given, but rallied for a fifth place finish. Three days later, NASCAR unveiled large penalties for the infraction. Logano and Keselowski were each docked 25 points in the drivers' championship standings; Logano’s crew chief Todd Gordon was also fined $100,000 and suspended six weeks. Car chief Raymond Fox and team engineer Samuel Stanley were suspended for the same length of time as well. Identical penalties were also handed down to all of the people in the same positions on Keselowski's team. Penske Racing released a statement saying the organization planned to appeal the penalties, but on May 1 the NASCAR Appeals Panel unanimously upheld the penalties. Team owner Roger Penske said he would further appeal the ruling to NASCAR Chief Appelate Officer John Middlebrook.

After Logano's fifth place finish at Texas, he had a low weekend at Kansas when he wrecked with Kyle Busch early in the race, relegating him to a 39th place finish. He was able to rebound the following week at Richmond with a 3rd place run.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Points
2008	Hall of Fame Racing	96	Toyota																											NHA 32	DOV	KAN 39								64th	113
	Joe Gibbs Racing	02	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	LOW	DOV	POC	MCH	INF	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH DNQ				TAL	LOW	MAR	ATL DNQ	TEX 40	PHO	HOM
2009		20		DAY 43	CAL 26	LVS 13	ATL 30	BRI 38	MAR 32	TEX 30	PHO 21	TAL 9	RCH 19	DAR 9	LOW 9	DOV 15	POC 23	MCH 25	INF 19	NHA 1	DAY 19	CHI 18	IND 12	POC 27	GLN 16	MCH 7	BRI 34	ATL 22	RCH 14	NHA 21	DOV 42	KAN 28	CAL 14	LOW 5	MAR 12	TAL 3	TEX 19	PHO 21	HOM 24	20th	3791
2010				DAY 20	CAL 5	LVS 6	ATL 35	BRI 27	MAR 2	PHO 10	TEX 28	TAL 36	RCH 16	DAR 27	DOV 10	CLT 13	POC 13	MCH 10	INF 33	NHA 9	DAY 29	CHI 19	IND 9	POC 25	GLN 33	MCH 10	BRI 18	ATL 27	RCH 4	NHA 35	DOV 3	KAN 17	CAL 11	CLT 7	MAR 6	TAL 5	TEX 4	PHO 3	HOM 39	16th	4185
2011				DAY 23	PHO 33	LVS 23	BRI 23	CAL 25	MAR 13	TEX 24	TAL 10	RCH 11	DAR 35	DOV 27	CLT 3	KAN 23	POC 11	MCH 18	INF 6	DAY 3	KEN 14	NHA 4	IND 25	POC 26	GLN 5	MCH 21	BRI 13	ATL 24	RCH 35	CHI 16	NHA 14	DOV 29	KAN 29	CLT 12	TAL 24	MAR 18	TEX 37	PHO 11	HOM 19	24th	902
2012				DAY 9	PHO 10	LVS 16	BRI 16	CAL 24	MAR 23	TEX 19	KAN 15	RCH 24	TAL 26	DAR 10	CLT 23	DOV 8	POC 1*	MCH 35	SON 10	KEN 22	DAY 4	NHA 14	IND 33	POC 13	GLN 32	MCH 31	BRI 8	ATL 18	RCH 30	CHI 7	NHA 8	DOV 20	TAL 32	CLT 9	KAN 19	MAR 16	TEX 11	PHO 27	HOM 14	17th	965
2013	Penske Racing	22	Ford	DAY 19	PHO 26	LVS 12	BRI 17	CAL 3	MAR 23	TEX 5	KAN 39	RCH 3	TAL 35	DAR 22	CLT 5	DOV 7	POC 10	MCH 9	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	14th*	405*

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Season	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	Pos	Points
2008	HT Motorsports	59	Toyota	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	LOW	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH	BRI	GTW	NHA	LVS	TAL 26	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	91st	85
2013	Brad Keselowski Racing	19	Ford	DAY	MAR	ROC 2	KAN 24	CLT	DOV	TEX	KEN	IOW	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP	IOW	CHI	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM				49th*	0*1

* Season in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

External links

• Official website
• Joey Logano driver statistics at Racing Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Mike Olsen	NASCAR Busch East Series champion 2007	Succeeded by Matt Kobyluck
Achievements
Preceded by Regan Smith	NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year 2009	Succeeded by Kevin Conway