From Connecticut quarter midgets to the youngest Cup winner in history, the Team Penske driver who won the Cup championship in 2018, 2022 and 2024.
Logano is an American Cup driver for Team Penske, born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1990. He won the Cup title in 2018, 2022 and 2024, and at 19 he became the youngest winner in the series' history.
Joey Logano is an American stock car driver who competes full time in the NASCAR Cup Series for Team Penske. He has won the Cup championship three times, in 2018, 2022 and 2024, and he holds several youth records from his early career in the Xfinity and Cup series. His path from Connecticut quarter midget racing to the front of the sport has been shaped by a long association with Team Penske.
Who is Joey Logano?
Joseph Thomas Logano was born on 24 May 1990 in Middletown, Connecticut. He drives the No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series, and he has also competed in the Xfinity Series, the Camping World Truck Series and the ARCA Menards Series. He has been the youngest winner in two of NASCAR's three top national divisions.
He was also the first driver born in the 1990s to race in all three of NASCAR's top divisions. He is the son of Thomas and Deborah Logano, and his father's Italian heritage is part of his background. As a child he played ice hockey alongside his racing, and the family later moved to Georgia to advance his career.
Youngest winner in two of NASCAR's top three divisions and three Cup titles since 2018 make Logano one of the defining drivers of his era.
How did Logano rise through the early series?
Logano began racing in 1996 as a six-year-old quarter midget driver in Connecticut. He won the Eastern Grand National Championship in the junior stock car division in 1997 and a junior Honda division title in 1998. A Lt. Mod. championship followed in early 1999, and later that year he won three New England Regional championships in different divisions.
Veteran driver Mark Martin, then racing for Roush Fenway Racing, called Logano the real deal when he was 15 and said he could become one of the greatest drivers ever in NASCAR. Randy LaJoie, a two-time Busch Series champion, gave him the nickname Sliced Bread, meaning the greatest thing since the invention of the product.
Logano's first real competition in cars came on pavement late model circuits and then in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series from 2005. In 2007 a rule change let drivers aged 16 and over race in the Grand National Division, and he finished that season with five wins and three poles in 13 starts in the Camping World East Series. He won that championship and also took the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale.
In 2008 he won the Carolina 500 at Rockingham on his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut with Venturini Motorsports. He also made his Truck debut at Talladega, starting sixth and finishing 26th. That winter he was disqualified from the Toyota All-Star Showdown for crashing into Peyton Sellers, a result that left him credited with no laps at all.
How did Logano become a record-breaking youngster?
Logano became the youngest winner in Nationwide Series history by winning the 2008 Meijer 300 at Kentucky in only his third start. He was 18 years and 21 days old, beating Casey Atwood's record. The following summer he won the Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland by deciding not to pit when his teammate Kyle Busch took four tyres.
His Cup debut came in September 2008 at New Hampshire, making him the first 1990s-born driver to start a Cup race. He missed the 2008 Richmond event after rain cancelled qualifying and he was outside the top 43 in owners' points. His first full season, 2009, included a fourth place in a Gatorade Duel and the youngest start in the Daytona 500, although a crash ended that race in last place.
On 28 June 2009 Logano took the rain-shortened Lenox race at Loudon, New Hampshire, ahead of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. It made him the youngest Cup winner in the series' history at 19 years, one month and four days. He was named the 2009 Raybestos Rookie of the Year later that year, ahead of Scott Speed and Max Papis.
He later became the youngest pole winner in Cup history when he won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 2010 Food City 500 at Bristol. That season brought a sixteenth-place points finish despite no wins, with seven top-five and sixteen top-ten finishes.
What happened during the Joe Gibbs Racing years?
Logano drove the No. 20 Home Depot-sponsored Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing from 2009 to 2012, replacing Tony Stewart. He scored two Cup wins, 16 top-five finishes and 41 top-ten finishes in that period. The 2011 season was his most difficult, with four top fives, six top tens and two poles, leaving him 24th in the points.
His second Cup victory arrived at the 2012 Pocono 400, where he made contact with Mark Martin with four laps left and then held off Martin and Stewart. He became the first driver in thirty races to win from the pole, and it was his first win on a full-distance race, as his 2009 victory had been shortened by rain. That year he also won a series-high nine Nationwide races.
In 2013 Logano moved to Team Penske, taking the No. 22 Ford after Matt Kenseth was announced for the No. 20 Toyota. The move gave him a long-term base and access to the team's resources, and it marked the start of his best years in the sport.
How did Logano's Team Penske years develop?
His first Penske season was a rebuilding year. He was involved in a crash at Bristol with Denny Hamlin, and a pre-race inspection failure at Texas over rear-end housing cost the team 25 points each for him and Keselowski, and crew chief Todd Gordon a six-week suspension and a fine. He grew into the role over the year, with a breakout race at Auto Club Speedway, and his first Penske win came at Michigan, where he also took a pole with a track record lap.
In 2014 Logano was among the most consistent drivers in the series. He won Texas on the last lap over Jeff Gordon, slipped through a late shuffle between Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth at Richmond, and won the Bristol Night Race. A victory at New Hampshire moved him to second in the points, and he was one of seven drivers who won more than one race that year.
The 2015 season began with a Daytona 500 win over Kevin Harvick, when he became the second-youngest winner of the race at 24, behind Trevor Bayne. He also took a win at Watkins Glen after leading only the final lap, and he swept the Chase contender round with wins at Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega. He ended the season sixth in points after a Phoenix elimination.
The 2016 season was rockier. He won his first Sprint Cup All-Star Race after a late pass on Kyle Larson, and he won the Michigan race from pole. The highlight was the Talladega overtime win that secured a place in the Round of 8, followed by a Phoenix victory that guaranteed a place in the Homestead final four. At Homestead the restart with Carl Edwards went wrong, and Logano finished fourth, second in the standings to Jimmie Johnson.
How did Logano win the 2018 championship?
After a quiet 2017 that ended with a 17th-place points finish and a missed playoff, Logano rebounded in 2018. He won the GEICO 500, holding off Kurt Busch, and was a steady presence in the playoffs. Martinsville gave him a dominant fall victory in the Round of 8, when he led 309 of 500 laps, and his teammates Keselowski and Blaney were eliminated before the final round.
At Homestead-Miami Speedway, Logano passed Martin Truex Jr. on the high side with 12 laps to go to win the title. Across the season he won three races, scored 13 top-five and 26 top-ten finishes, and had an average finish of 10.7. It was the first title of his career,
What did Logano achieve after his 2018 title?
His title defence in 2019 was competitive but ended in the Round of 8, after a ninth-place finish at Phoenix. He won at Las Vegas, where he held off his teammate Brad Keselowski, and a dispute with Denny Hamlin at Martinsville earlier in the playoffs drew wide attention. He finished fifth in the final standings, the highest of the drivers outside the final four.
The 2020 season saw him win at Las Vegas and Phoenix in the regular season to earn a playoff spot, and he reached the Championship 4 by beating Kevin Harvick at Kansas. At Phoenix a late vibration and pit strategy left him third in the title race. In 2021 he finished twelfth in the Daytona 500 after a crash, won the inaugural Bristol Dirt race, and finished eighth in the standings.
The 2022 season delivered his second title. He won the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, took the Darlington race by retaliating against William Byron, and won at the inaugural Gateway. In the playoffs he won at Las Vegas and at Phoenix, which secured the championship. Coy Gibbs, his former boss at Joe Gibbs Racing, had died the day before he lifted the trophy.
| Season | Milestone | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Youngest Cup winner at New Hampshire; Rookie of the Year | Win and title award |
| 2013 | Joins Team Penske; Michigan win and pole | Eighth in the standings |
| 2014 | Texas, Richmond, Bristol and New Hampshire wins | Chase finalist, 16th in the finale |
| 2015 | Daytona 500 win; Chase contender sweep | Sixth in the standings |
| 2016 | Talladega win; Phoenix win; Homestead final four | Second in the standings |
| 2018 | GEICO 500 and Homestead title | Champion with three wins |
| 2022 | Las Vegas and Phoenix wins in the playoffs | Champion |
| 2024 | Daytona 500 pole, All-Star Race win, Nashville win | Third championship |
| 2026 | North Wilkesboro win; Richmond and Bristol wins | Third in the Daytona 500 |
How did Logano win a third title in 2024?
The 2024 season opened with a pole for the Daytona 500, the first for Roger Penske. He then took the All-Star exhibition and its US$1 million prize, leading 199 of its 200 laps. His first points-paying win of the season came at Nashville, where a record five overtimes were survived and the car ran 110 laps without a fuel stop.
He was fined US$50,000 for spinning his tyres near a pit box at Richmond after a dispute there, and fined US$10,000 for wearing unapproved safety gloves during qualifying at Atlanta. Those incidents were balanced by a playoff run that included wins at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. At Phoenix he made a three-wide pass for the lead on a restart and held off teammate Ryan Blaney to win the championship.
His third title drew criticism because his average finish of 17.1 was the lowest of any Cup champion up to that point.
What were Logano's 2025 and 2026 seasons like?
In 2025 Logano began with a 35th-place finish in the Daytona 500 after a crash. At Talladega he came home fifth, only to be disqualified when post-race inspection found a bolt missing from the spoiler. He rebounded with a win at Texas a week later, ran his 600th Cup race at Dover in July, and finished seventh in the points after elimination in the Round of 8.
The 2026 season began with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500. At Atlanta he broke a record for leading a lap in the most consecutive drafting-track races, which had stood for 47 years. At North Wilkesboro he ended a 45-race winless streak with a win in the first points-paying race at the track since 1996. He won again at Richmond, and at Bristol he took the win after Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar got into trouble battling for the lead.
