There has long been a belief that racers from New England face an uphill battle reaching NASCAR, largely because the region is not viewed as a traditional racing hotbed. That idea, however, could not be further from the truth. New England is steeped in racing history and is home to several notable racetracks. Joey Logano, a Connecticut native, has taken it upon himself to help set the record straight.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Logano was asked<\/a> if he had to travel around a lot to get to race tracks owing to the seemingly minimal infrastructure in Connecticut. He replied by pointing out that the influence of motorsports there is far larger than what people think.<\/p>\n \u201cThe New England car culture and racing culture is real. It\u2019s much bigger,\u201d\u00a0the Team Penske<\/a> driver said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Certain areas, such as New York and Boston, do lack racing activity on the roads, but that is made up for once you move a bit outside the major cities. Logano<\/a> continued, \u201cIf you get a little bit out of those areas, there\u2019s some great racetracks. I mean, there\u2019s Stafford, Thompson, and you know, we are racing in New Hampshire. I only lived up there for the first 10 years of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I was racing quarter midgets up there and some other stuff. But then we moved to Atlanta as a family, and there\u2019s a lot of racing down there, too. But it\u2019s fun going back up that way now because there are a few racers from up there. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d be surprised how many people from New England are working on our race team. I\u2019d say the majority of the people are from up north.\u201d<\/p>\n The big problem that New England drivers have<\/p>\n New England is home to several excellent asphalt and dirt tracks. Yet, for some reason, the region has never been well represented at the top level of the sport. Logano and Ryan Preece<\/a>, both Connecticut natives, are the only New England drivers competing in NASCAR\u2019s premier tier.<\/p>\n This is because any driver who wants to make it big in NASCAR has to move to Charlotte at some point. <\/p>\n