Tougher, More Mature Joey Logano Finally a Superstar with 2015 Daytona 500 Win
Mark Martin is a humble man, but somewhere on Sunday as he watched Joey Logano take the Daytona 500, he was thinking, but probably not saying, I told you so.
Partly because Martin is not prone to hyperbole, people listen to him. Now, since Logano won the Great American Race, Martin’s vision is confirmed.
Martin, who was recently nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, championed Logano’s cause for about half a decade before anyone else. When Logano was around 12, Martin used to tell anyone who’d listen that he’d seen a kid who might be the best there ever was.
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Logano rose in the ranks by means of his talent. All he lacked was maturity and, often, toughness. And a victory in NASCAR's toughest race requires both.
"He's a different driver, really," said Denny Hamlin, who finished fourth, via Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee. "I think he matured and did his homework. He's really become one of the elite drivers in our sport. Every single weekend, you know you're going to have to beat the '22' [Logano's number]. That's something we didn't say about Joey just three years ago."
From talented phenom to timid, green rookie, to race-winning veteran, to now, a budding superstar in the sport. The transformation of Logano has been fun to watch.
"Sometimes God just throws you situations and you don't know why and you've just got to roll with the punches and it turns out to be the best," Logano said in the winner's media availability, per Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.
"It's no secret that I got thrown into the [Cup] series way too young, inexperienced, didn't know what I had to do."
Logano debuted in the Sprint Cup Series at age 18. That year, 2008, he won in what is now the Xfinity Series. At age 19, he won five times. At 22, he won nine. But when he became a Cup regular in 2009, he was rushed. He seemed a bit wet behind the ears, and that's because he was. The strategic skills of crew chief Greg Zipadelli won him a Cup race in New Hampshire, but Logano didn’t win again until 2012, and he never finished higher than 17th in the point standings until 2013.
Now he’s 24, a veteran at an age when most drivers are just hoping for any Cup ride, let alone one owned by Roger Penske. Penske picked up Logano when Joe Gibbs let him go after the 2012 season. Penske’s timing was exquisite, but so was Logano’s on Sunday, as he won what was shaping up to be one of the more frantic Daytona 500 endings ever. Most of the field was “stacked up,” in the sport’s parlance.
At 18, Logano had all of the talent he needed, but he lacked the resolve to take on Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, et al. Many of them let him know that, often on live national television. Logano did a lot of stammering. At times, it was difficult for him to hold back the tears.
No more. Last year, Logano arrived. He won five races and finished fourth in the Chase. He entered the season as one of the championship favorites. He attained stardom.
| Year | Start | Finish | Laps Led |
| 2009 | 9th | 43rd | 0 |
| 2010 | 16th | 20th | 1 |
| 2011 | 38th | 23rd | 0 |
| 2012 | 12th | 9th | 2 |
| 2013 | 21st | 19th | 2 |
| 2014 | 35th | 11th | 2 |
| 2015 | 5th | 1st | 31 |
"To be here, get teamed up with a great team, it was an opportunity for me to regroup, be who I wanted to be as an adult, not an 18-year-old kid anymore, go out there and work hard," Logano said. "In the gym at Team Penske, it says, 'Effort equals results.' It's a simple phrase, but it means so much."
By winning the Daytona 500, he may have attained superstardom. That’s what a Daytona 500 victory often does for and to a man.
Harvick, the reigning champion, finished second. Earnhardt, the 2014 winner, finished third. Hamlin finished fourth.
"Coming to the white [flag], you never know what's going to happen,” Harvick said in the post-race media conference. “Obviously, everything is shuffled out to where these two guys were nose-to-tail behind me. Maybe I should have backed up a little bit harder, but I didn't want to back up so much that they drove right by me. I wanted to try to time it so I could have them to my bumper, have a good run coming off of four, have a shot.
“That didn't pan out. Didn't even have a chance to try to time it out.”
Gordon, who started on the pole, dominated the early stages. Earnhardt toyed with the lead in a car seemingly capable of getting it any time he needed it to. Johnson had the point late but lost it to Logano, with the assist to Clint Bowyer, whose Toyota gave Logano’s Ford a well-timed bump.
The timing wasn’t all Logano’s. It was a matter of listening to instructions and taking advantage when an opening appeared. It takes composure to do that, something Logano had to acquire. And it also required Logano to stay calm and capable of listening to spotter, crew chief and, occasionally, Penske himself. A man who is hysterical cannot process all of that information. A man who is not obstinate and determined cannot take advantage of it.
When a crash occurred behind the leaders, but in the lead draft, Logano had enough of a lead to preserve until NASCAR officials decided to cinch it for him with a caution flag. Both Harvick and Earnhardt indicated in their pressers that it was doubtful either could have caught him.
Logano spoke about the chaotic nature of the race, per Jeff Gluck of USA Today:
Asked on Fox's telecast in Victory Lane "how the reality feels,” Logano didn’t need many words.
“It feels just the way you dream it,” he said. “This is better than Disney World in here.”
Just a few seconds before, Logano had said, “I can’t explain how cool this is.”
Nonsense. He just needed two sentences.
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