Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano sets sights on Texas Motor Speedway
HAMPTON, Ga. – Joey Logano will attempt to qualify for the Sprint Cup race next week at Texas Motor Speedway in the No. 02 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Logano had hoped to run the races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway the last few weeks but has not been able to qualify because weather has canceled qualifying and his part-time team does not have the attempts needed to get in the 43-car field.
After the Atlanta qualifying was washed out, JGR made the decision to add Texas to Logano’s schedule.
“We’re going to run Texas and there is a possibility that we will add some more to it,” JGR President J.D. Gibbs said Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “It probably depends on our test schedule and what we’ve got going on.”
The 18-year-old Logano, who is slated to replace Tony Stewart in the No. 20 car next year, has only two Cup starts, both will Hall of Fame Racing. He struggled in both events with a 32nd-place finish and a 39th-place finish.
“I would love to get him in at least another race this year, let him get a feel for it and do it … in our stuff,” Gibbs said. “We’re going to run Texas, hope that goes well, knock that out and that might be the last one or we might run a few more.”
Gibbs said Logano’s running a truck and in ARCA at Talladega should have him approved to run in the Daytona 500 next year.
“I think he’s probably done enough,” Gibbs said. “From our standpoint, we’ve talked to NASCAR, too, we want to see him in some more stuff as well. We’re going to run at least one or two more.”
Gibbs said his team has not soured on the decision to put Logano in a Cup car full time for next season.
“If he hadn’t had all the experience testing them and being in them and racing them, I might be concerned,” Gibbs said. “He’s got so much experience in those things. He’s going to have a learning curve. He’s going to take his bumps along the way like any driver would.”
