Logano eager and ready to be back in Nationwide Series car
By SceneDaily Staff
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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Joey Logano is eager to get back to work in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series car.
Fresh off a three-race hiatus, he’ll do just that in Saturday’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway.
Logano, who is sharing time in the car this season with fellow JRG drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, is looking forward to the race.
And with good reason.
In his four Nationwide starts earlier this season, he scored two poles, two top-five finishes and three-top 10s. He also became the youngest winner in series history when he went to victory lane June 14 at Kentucky Speedway three weeks after his 18th birthday.
In Logano’s absence, the car has continued JGR’s dominance of the 2008 Nationwide season, with Stewart winning at New Hampshire and Hamlin winning at Daytona.
“It’s been hard over the last few weeks since I’m eligible to run, but I just couldn’t because the schedule was set up at the beginning of the season,” Logano said. “It definitely wasn’t easy, but I know I will be racing my whole career. I even tried to look at it as a bit of a vacation since I’m hoping I will be able to race every week for a long time. I definitely had a different attitude going to the shop at the start of the week since I’m pretty excited to get back racing and back with all the guys on the 20 team.”
Once again this weekend, Logano will be running at a track for the first time. To prepare, he tested a Cup car with the team at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway on Tuesday. But that’s not all.
“Thanks to [sponsor] GameStop, I’ve been playing video games the last couple of days just to see what the track layout is like,” Logano said. “Milwaukee is ridiculously flat, so I don’t think there are too many similarities even though we are bringing our Milwaukee car there. I’ve been told that Gateway has just about the same amount of banking as Kentucky, but it’s obviously shaped differently and races differently. From what I’ve been told, there are two completely different ends to the race track. I’m looking forward to the challenge of a new track, though.”
Logano, who is being touted as a possible replacement for Tony Stewart in JGR’s No. 20 Cup car next season, says he has remained grounded through all the hype and expectations surrounding his first Nationwide season.
“I think I’d feel weird without the pressure because I’ve kind of gotten used to it,” Logano said. “And if I didn’t have the pressure, I’d think something would be wrong. I’m 100 percent cool with it. I go out there expecting to win. I go out there expecting my team to expect to win.
“And that’s what we’re doing. I’m just one of those overcompetitive freaks, I guess. I think that’s what everyone is here for, and that is what I want my team to be here for.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Joey Logano
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