Today, Joey Logano possesses three NASCAR Cup championships and 37 victories, but if not for Roger Penske, the Connecticut native might have found himself in another profession.
That’s because when the then 22-year-old Logano’s contract ended with Joe Gibbs Racing, he didn’t have a job.
“I had a couple different opportunities, none of them in race-winning cars,” Logano recalled. “One of them was to return to the Nationwide Series (now O’Reilly Auto Parts).”
It was a tough five years at JGR for the young driver nicknamed “sliced bread” after the moniker “the greatest thing since sliced bread.” At age 18, he was thrust into the Cup Series spotlight when Tony Stewart suddenly left JGR to form Stewart-Haas Racing with team owner Gene Haas. For the young Logano, it was overwhelming, and at the end of those five years, he was floundering.
“I didn’t have much,” Logano admitted. “You obviously start to think at those times, ‘Am I going to be a race car driver anymore? What am I gonna do the rest of my life?’ All of those things go through your mind.”
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Brad Keselowski shakes hands with Joey Logano after winning the Cup series championship in 2012.
At the time, Brad Keselowski owned a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, and he possessed an eye for young talent. Those who passed through his team’s doors included Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, and Logano. Keselowski introduced Penske to Logano. Penske had watched Logano, so he talked with Joe Gibbs about the young driver. That, coupled with Keselowski’s endorsement, led to Logano joining Team Penske.
“Totally by the grace of God that this car opened up,” Logano told Autoweek while standing in front of his No. 22 car that’s in the Team Penske 60 exhibit at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina. “(It) was a gift from God. There’s no other way to explain that one.
“You obviously start to think at those times, ‘Am I going to be a race car driver anymore?”
“We tried to put a deal together the year before. I couldn’t get out of the deal that I was in at Gibbs, so that’s when A.J. (Allmendinger) took over.”
When Allmendinger’s time at Team Penske was cut short in 2012 due to a NASCAR suspension, Penske secured Logano’s services for 2013.
“It was the perfect home,” Logano said about Team Penske. “I didn’t know that at the time that it was going to be. It was kind of, ‘Boy, that’s the best opportunity I’m going to get.’ Looking back at it now with no changes of sponsors, manufacturers, or ownership, it’s all the same. That’s unheard of in our sport in this day and age.”
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Joey Logano in December, 2012, shortly after joining Penske.’ expand=
Logano noted that in today’s NASCAR community a driver might stay five to 10 years with one team. His Team Penske tenure now stands at 14 years.
“I’m proud that when people see the yellow (No.) 22 out there, they think of Ford, they think of Shell and Pennzoil, and they think of Joey Logano and Roger Penske,” Logano said. “That’s really special to me that it’s an iconic car. Kinda like Rusty (Wallace) was with the blue deuce. It’s something that I really take a lot of pride in.”
Logano readily admits that if not for Roger Penske, he might be in a completely different profession.
“It very well could have gone that way very quickly,” Logano says.
Logano acknowledges that when he joined Team Penske “I was a little rough around the edges… said things, did things I shouldn’t have.”
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Penske peers into Joey Logano’s car in 2015.
“But learning the way he (Roger Penske) does things, and the way he cares about what the Penske image is really all about, and what the culture is, and protecting that culture, he never had to say anything to me,” Logano said. “He just kind of let me figure that out over time, and those qualities are things that I try to take from Roger and the race team. I try to put those in other businesses that I’m involved in or my kids.
“I want them (my children) to have a standard of doing things the correct way, pushing yourself to the edge, always looking for that little bit better that you can do. Those are hard qualities to find in people. I say all the time, ‘If you’re working with a bunch of turkeys, you’re never going to fly like an eagle.’”
Together, Team Penske and Logano have not only flown like an eagle, but at times they have soared.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.