Joey Logano Recalls Being Kicked Out of Atlanta Motor Speedway as a Teenager
Winning Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway to advance to the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs was a full-circle moment for Team Penske's Joey Logano. While the driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang hails from Middletown, Connecticut, the driver and his family lived in Georgia and the driver essentially lived out of a condominium at Atlanta Motor Speedway as Logano was attempting to work his way up the racing ladder racing Bandoleros.
"There's a lot. There's a lot of memories here. More memories at this racetrack than anywhere I've ever been," Logano explained in his race-winner press conference. "I remember the first time pulling in here was in '99. We were moving from Connecticut, trying to figure out where we wanted to live. We drove by Atlanta Motor Speedway. Let's pull in.
"I remember we drove in, all of us in a motorhome traveling across the country, figuring this whole thing out. We drove through the tunnel, [and I thought] 'Oh, my God, this place is incredible.' Never been to a track like this before. At the time I was racing quarter midgets."
It was at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Logano and his family met Ken Ragan, the father of fellow NASCAR racer David Ragan. Upon their first meeting, the elder Ragan asked, 'Why don't you race a Bandolero tonight?' Logano did, and not long after, the Loganos bought the race car.
Six months later, Logano and his family moved to Alpharetta, Georgia from Connecticut. And while the rest of the family spent the majority of their time at their home in Alpharetta, it was Logano and his dad spent the majority of their time at condo 805 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Logano fondly remembers racing around the quarter-mile track on the frontstretch of the 1.54-mile race track, daydreaming about getting a chance to mix it up on the big track someday. All of the memories he made at Atlanta Motor Speedway are why Logano ranks his two NASCAR Cup Series wins at Atlanta near the top of his list of accomplishments.
"Pulling into Victory Lane here is obviously one of the most special things to really put all that together," Logano said.
While Atlanta Motor Speedway would never dream of doing this in the present day with who Logano has become in the landscape of NASCAR, the now 34-year-old racer remembered back to his teenage years and the times the track management group had security kick him out. One time particularly stuck out for the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
"We came here, this was years ago, [Jack] Roush gave me a Cup car to do laps. This was before I signed with Gibbs. 2004, I was 14 [years old]. We would just go make laps at local short tracks just for fun. We'd go testing with Mark Martin. It was the coolest thing in the world," Logano recalled. "A friend of ours was testing a Porsche for the Rolex 24, running the road course here. [We asked] 'Do you mind if we make some laps while you're not on the road course?' [He said], 'Absolutely, no problem.'
"We called Ed Clark [who] at the time, [was] running the track. [We asked] 'Can we make some laps?' [Ed said], 'Yeah, sure.' They thought we were racing a Legends car. They thought we were going to run laps on the quarter mile. They were like, 'Sure, okay.' We unloaded a Cup car. They didn't like that. That wasn't too cool in their book. They gave me this lap time that I couldn't exceed, and it was a very slow lap time. I had to run a fast corner and that's it."
It looked like the plan to log some laps in a NASCAR Cup Series car around the mile-and-a-half Atlanta Motor Speedway had been thwarted for the 14-year-old aspiring professional race car driver. Then, his dad Tom, who has been instrumental to Logano's racing career had an idea.
"I remember it was right before the lunch. My dad goes, 'Screw it, Joe. Just go. They're going to throw us out. I don't care. Just go.' [He told me], 'They're going to black flag you. Just go until it runs out of gas.' This is how I grew up," Logano laughed. "Explains a lot for you guys. I did that, and we got thrown out. It was a really cool memory."
It may have taken breaking some rules along the way, but Logano completed his climb to the NASCAR Cup Series as he made his debut in 2008 at the age of 18. After a 32nd-place run for the now-defunt Hall of Fame Racing team in his first career start, which came at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Logano has blossomed into one of the best drivers in modern day NASCAR, and one of the best all-time as he was named to NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers list last season.
While picking up his 34th career NASCAR Cup Series race win at Atlanta, a track that has meant so much to him personally, was emotional for Logano, and it sparked tons of memories of his journey to the pinnacle of American motorsport, his eyes will now focus on the ultimate prize of his third NASCAR Cup Series championship. While he still has a long road ahead of him on his path to a third title, Logano and his crew chief Paul Wolfe will now have the next two races at Watkins Glen and Bristol Motor Speedway to go all-out for the race win without having to worry about the points repricussions if a gamble doesn't pay off.
By way of his Atlanta win, Logano is guaranteed an automatic advancement to the Round of 12 of the Playoffs, where the point standings will be reset after four drivers are eliminated following the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol on Saturday, September 21.
The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue this weekend with the Go Bowling at The Glen from Watkins Glen International. USA Network will carry the television coverage of the event in New York beginning at 3 PM ET on Sunday, September 15. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90) will provide the radio broadcast of the event.
TOBY CHRISTIE