Joey Logano wraps up rookie award at Homestead
By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor
Sunday, November 22, 2009
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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Mark Martin was a big fan of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Joey Logano long before Logano even got a drivers license. Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Logano fulfilled some of the promise Martin talked about by wrapping up the NASCAR Sprint Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in the Ford 400.
Logano finished 24th on Sunday, earning top rookie-of-the-race honors for the 26th time in 36 races. Logano beat Red Bull Racing’s Scott Speed for the rookie award.
“I told you so,” Martin said with a wry smile Sunday night.
When Martin announced plans to cut back his schedule five years ago, he talked up Logano. Then 14, Logano never figured he’d be in a position to win the Cup rookie award so soon.
“No, I don’t look that far ahead,” Logano said. “I think that’s kind of the big deal. I’ve always been a day-by-day person and always worry about the next thing as it comes. I’ve never been the person to look two races ahead; it’s always the next one.
“At the time I thought that was awesome. To be honest that’s something that got me to this point - if it wasn’t for him saying stuff like that to get me a ride like this. It was a real big deal in my career.”
Logano made his debut in one of NASCAR’s national series last year, and ended up winning in the Nationwide Series. When Tony Stewart decided to leave JGR to take over ownership of his own team, Logano was called upon to drive the No. 20 Toyota.
His season started slowly, as he finished better than 14th only once in his first eight races.
“It was tough at times, believe me,” Logano said. “The media wasn’t saying the greatest things, but if anything it’s more motivating. You really want to keep pushing it and become a better race-car driver. I was getting a little self confidence out of the Nationwide car, which was helping me there and [I] just kept pushing it and trying to learn these race cars as much as I can.
“By no means I’m not there yet, but I feel like we made big steps. The second part is figure out how you want them to drive, what part of the corner you want to work on, what do you need to make these things go fast. Hopefully through the offseason here we can test a little bit and get some more seat time in these things and come better next year.”
Logano finished 20th in the Cup standings, winning his first race, at New Hampshire, and posting three top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
“It’s really cool to get the Raybestos Rookie of the Year,” Logano said. “It’s obviously one of our big goals. … We had a real rough start and finished 20th in the points, [which] I guess is OK. In the beginning of the season if you had told me that’s where we were going to finish I’d have been ecstatic about it, but now you always want better.”
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11 responses to "Joey Logano wraps up rookie award at Homestead". Post a Comment.
4-DA-88 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 12:13 PMWhen Joey first came to NASCAR his first interview, I did not care for him. When they put him in the cup car I thought it was a big mistake. Joey has impressed me with his progress. I think he has handled his cup car position with maturity many veteran drivers lack.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgwen_susie388 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 1:14 PMCongratulations Joey!! I have been very impressed with Joey as well this year. I like him as a driver and that baby faced innocent look he walks around with whether it be true or not. lol I met Joey at Dega and he acted just like what you see on TV. Someone says something and he laughs, shows those pretty white teeth and answers. Joey earned this award! Congratulations again!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportDonnaJR88 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 5:08 PMWay to go, Joey! In my opinion you're the most mature driver driving for Gibbs! I hope you have a great season next year.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkylestewart said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 5:09 PMCongrats to Joey and a very good 1st season. Hopefully it'll be a lot of fun watching him throughout his career.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjdxenterprises said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 6:34 PMGood Job Joey!!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdtk1952 said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 7:32 PMBetter Joey instead of Scott Speed
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbeefjurski said:
Nov 23, 2009 at 9:29 PMYeah congrats on having such great competition for the award. If Ambrose hadn't raced all the races he did he would have won.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjulie28 said:
Nov 24, 2009 at 9:18 AMYou mean Ambrose couldn't run for rookie.
Report as AbuseJoey still had competition, he had to run well and he did. Way to go Joey! Amazing--I thought he was in cup too soon. Oops!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjenny9nelsen said:
Nov 24, 2009 at 2:13 PMCongrats Joey on winning Rookie of The Year.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjjrizzo said:
Nov 24, 2009 at 7:46 PMCongrats from Connecticut also. Great job and good luck in the future!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportwhizkid2b2 said:
Nov 25, 2009 at 12:29 PMCongrats Joey! Enjoyed watching you this year. Look forward to 2010..
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