Joey Logano Has Gotten Off to a Strong Start This Season

Joey Logano Has Gotten Off to a Strong Start This Season

What a difference a year makes!  I know that it is early in the season, but Joey Logano looks like a brand new driver out there on the track.  Although, Logano won a rain-shortened race last season in New Hampshire, most of his rookie season was spent learning on the track.  Heading into this season most people thought he would improve and consistently run in the top-twenty, but I don’t believe they knew that he would be this good.  In just three races, he has one top-five finish and two top-ten finishes which is impressive for anyone let alone a nineteen year old.  At this point last year, Logano was thirty-sixth in points but this season he is eighth.  If Logano keeps on racing like he has so far, he should make the Chase which would be quite an accomplishment for him to do so in just his second season.Joel Logano joined WKNR in Cleveland to talk about how comfortable he is on the track this year compared to last year, how important it is to not dig yourself into a hole early in the Nextel Sprint Cup, and what the toughest thing is racing in the Sprint Cup.

How comfortable he is on the track this year compared to last year:

“Like I said, I feel a ton, ton better just having some more experience under my belt and having the motor…  Working overtime and working with Jiffy Moore and knowing what we are doing is definitely helping us out a ton.  So definitely this season starting out we ran sixth last week… in California.  We had an OK run and in Daytona.  Definitely the momentum is building and we are getting the Home Depot Toyota up there again.”

How important it is to not dig yourself into a hole early in the Nextel Sprint Cup:

“It is real tough.  If you are trying to make the Chase you have got to definitely come out of the gates early in the season like now and definitely press hard and keep yourself up there in points.  Right now we are eighth so that is cool.  Last year right now we were about thirty-sixth so I think we are doing a good job plugging away and getting ourselves back up where we need to be every week.  Going into Atlanta this week is going to be fun.  It is Home Depot’s headquarters.  I lived there for six years so we want to have a great run there.  We will have to see.  That is where I ran a lot of bandaleros, the Legends cars out there at the racetrack so it is fun to be up there on the big track.

Whether he feels there is a big gap between Hendrick Motorsports and his Joe Gibbs team:

“I feel like we are closing the gap though.  I think, especially our Twenty team is closing up the gap I think.  You know I think we definitely need to keep pushing along and try to catch up with those guys.  They are definitely dominate.  They have got awesome race cars, but it keeps us working and it seems like in this sport it kind of goes through phases.  There is times where the Gibbs cars are the best out there.  Right now I feel like we are about second and we need to just find out a little bit more to get our race cars right where they need to be to win more races.”

Whether this year is the year that he will win a race:

“I think we can.  We actually won one last year up in New Hampshire.  I think if we keep getting top-five and top-ten finishes like we are in the beginning of the season right now.  If we keep doing that then eventually the wins are going to come.  You never know.”

Whether he feels like his car is there to compete with the best:

“Definitely, every weekend.  Sometimes you get the winning race car and you have to do everything right to get that win…  Everything has to go just right to win a race and if you have the fastest car it still doesn’t mean that you are going to win.  So a lot of things have to go right and in your way to make things happen.”

What the toughest thing is racing in the Sprint Cup:

“You are racing against the best race car drivers in the world.  That is the way I look at it Randy.  Those guys are amazing and to be running up front and racing against those guys is a ton of fun.  Between that and driving these race cars.  These Sprint Cup cars are probably the fastest race cars that I have ever driven.  They don’t have much downforce, a high center of gravity, the whole deal, a ton of horsepower.  So there is a lot of things going against you on making the car handle.  It may be fun as a race car.  You are in there sawing at it and working the wheel back and forth and working in there but sometimes you wished the car handled the best.”