Why Joey Logano's Lack of Experience Won't Be a Factor at Homestead
Joey Logano's nickname of "Sliced Bread" has been around long enough to get all moldy. It doesn't even really fit him any longer.
Yet here he is, about to race for the championship in Sunday's winner-takes-all, one-race Chase for the Sprint Cup showdown with three other drivers at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and it seems like some folks are still acting like he just crashed the scene in NASCAR's premier national touring division.
Yes, it's true that he doesn't have the experience of the other three drivers he's up against in Sunday's race for the title, where the highest finisher of the four will win his first championship.
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How could he? Despite this being his sixth full-time season in Cup, Logano is only 24 years old. He won't celebrate his 25th birthday until next May.
Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman share a Dec. 8 birthday, with Harvick about to turn 39 and Newman 37, even though Newman's receding hairline and general demeanor make him seem much older. Denny Hamlin's birthday is next Tuesday, Nov. 18, when he'll turn 34.
But don't mistake Logano's youth for inexperience that is likely to cost him this Sunday.
When it was suggested by a reporter at Wednesday's Championship 4 news conference in Miami that the other three drivers have been in the thick of a championship battle previously and that Logano might be at a disadvantage because this is his first time in such a position, Logano pointed out that no one has ever participated in this type of one-race, winner-takes-all format.
"I don't see it as a disadvantage at all, because I think we're all kind of in the same boat right now," Logano said.
Not only that, but none of these other guys has been through what Logano has endured over the last six years. Those experiences likely will help Logano deal with whatever happens Sunday, not serve as a detriment.
In addition to the natural maturation that occurs in most human beings, especially males, between the ages of 18 and 24, Logano had to go through the difficult trials of living up to that damned nickname and at the same time replacing Tony Stewart, then a two-time Cup champion, in the No. 20 Home Depot car at Joe Gibbs Racing.
For background purposes, former driver Randy Lajoie gave Logano the nickname "Sliced Bread," as in the best thing since, because Lajoie believed Logano eventually would become one of the best to ever drive a stock car. Others, such as former Cup driver Mark Martin, also began singing Logano's praises when Logano was only 15.
By the time he was 18, he was replacing Stewart and driving full time in the Cup Series.
It was, at times, a little too much—which Logano has since admitted on multiple occasions. But it also helped harden him for the times ahead, and this is one of those times.
"Racing for a championship is a dream come true," Logano said Wednesday in Miami. "Obviously, I've been through kind of the tougher times and trying to understand what it takes to drive a Sprint Cup car and how to make one go fast and how to race other guys out there, and I was able to do that kind of in the limelight in front of everyone."
He won just two of 147 starts over four full seasons and a sliver of a fifth at JGR before that organization decided veteran driver Matt Kenseth was a better option in the No. 20 car than Logano, then 22. Team president J.D. Gibbs even admitted that if Logano had stayed with JGR, he likely would have been demoted to a full-time ride in the Nationwide Series in 2013.
So Logano left, joining Team Penske to stay in a full-time Cup ride in the No. 22 car he now drives.
Fellow driver Brad Keselowski campaigned for Logano to join Team Penske, just as Keselowski campaigned with team owner Roger Penske to build his organization from within by promoting crew chiefs who already were part of the company.
That led veteran Nationwide crew chief Todd Gordon to Logano's pit box at the beginning of last season. Since then, they've won six races together (five this season) and developed a driver-crew chief chemistry that rivals just about any other in the Sprint Cup garage.
Penske himself talked about the importance of that strategy in general and the Gordon-Logano union in particular recently, telling Tom Jensen of FoxSports.com: "... I think we build a much more solid team that way, rather than trying to go out and grab somebody from another team. This is a well-built team with a strong foundation and obviously a world-class driver."
If there is any concern about the No. 22 team heading into Homestead, it hovers over the pit crew. When the crew failed to properly disengage the fuel can from the car during a stop at Phoenix last week, Logano incurred a penalty for carrying it out of his pit box and dropped from second in the running order to 29th.
But instead of panicking, Gordon and Logano took turns serving as calming influences over the team radio. They certainly sounded and acted like experienced veterans in that crisis situation, giving no indication that it will be any different should they face some adversity in the championship race as well.
Logano admitted on Wednesday that another pit-road bobble like the one at Phoenix could be costly. But sounding again like an experienced veteran—and not the 24-year-old who has never been in this position before—he defended his pit crew and added that he has no doubts its members will be ready to perform at their highest level on Sunday.
"I feel like execution is the biggest deal," Logano said. "There are obviously going to be a lot of distractions this weekend, and you've got to be able to put that behind you and race with a clean mind. And not just myself as a driver, but my whole team. And I feel like that's been our strong point all year. I feel like my team has been very strong, keeping the pressure to a low point and being able to do their job in those situations. I feel like that's our strongest point as the No. 22 team, and I like our chances because of that."
Logano may not win this championship. Harvick is the clear-cut favorite.
But no matter how you slice it, that doesn't sound like someone who will choke under pressure on Sunday because of supposed inexperience.
Unless otherwise noted, all information was obtained firsthand.
Joe Menzer has written six books, including two about NASCAR, and now writes about it and other sports for Bleacher Report as well as covering NASCAR as a writer and editor for FoxSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.
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