Know Your Driver: Joey Logano

Joey Logano

Name: Joseph Thomas "Joey" Logano

            Nickname: "Sliced Bread"

Date of Birth: May 24, 1990 (age 25)

Hometown: Middletown, Connecticut

Family: Brittany, wife

First Career Start: September 14, 2008 (New Hampshire)

Car Number and Make: #22 Ford Fusion

Primary Sponsors:

• Shell/Pennzoil
• AAA
• AutoTrader.com

Team: Team Penske

Teammates: Brad Keselowski

Best Career Points Finish: 4th (2014)

Career Victories: 10

Notable Wins: 

• Daytona 500 (2015)

Description: When Joey Logano turned 18 years old and became eligible to race in the Sprint Cup Series, he was expected to immediately produce great results and was essentially thought of as the next Jeff Gordon. That's some enormous pressure for an 18-year-old, more than any up-and-coming driver has ever dealt with.

Logano began racing at the age of six up in his home state of Connecticut and was already the holder of several racing championships by the time his family moved to Georgia at the age of 10. Logano was quickly touted by NASCAR veteran Mark Martin as a driver who could be one of the greatest all-time in NASCAR, and this was when Logano was only 15.

NASCAR moved up the age eligibility for its lower series from 18 to 16 in 2007 and Logano was immediately thrown into XFinity races at the age of 17 for Joe Gibbs Racing. Logano would become the youngest winner in XFinity Series history when he won at Kentucky at the age of 18, in 2008. By then, Gibbs was putting Logano into some Sprint Cup races, but success there was little to none.

Logano moved up to the Sprint Cup Series full-time in 2008 for Joe Gibbs, replacing NASCAR champion Tony Stewart in the #20 Home Depot car. His rookie season was fairly lackluster, however, Logano did score one victory, a rain shortened race at his hometown track of New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Logano became the youngest winner in Sprint Cup history at the age of 19.

Logano would struggle for the next three years, he failed to win in 2009 and 2010, and struggled in 2011 as well, though he did win at Pocono for his second career win, proving he could win a race without help from Mother Nature. Logano's lofty expectations were not panning out at Joe Gibbs, so Logano and the team decided not to negotiate another contract, leaving Logano in limbo for the 2013 season.

However, after Kurt Busch's issues at Team Penske, Busch was let go and Logano was brought in to fill his seat. Logano immediately began to flourish at Penske and was able to string top-10 finishes together like he never had before and also scored a win at Michigan in his first year with the team and made the Chase for the first time ever. 

2014 saw Logano become one of the best drivers on tour, winning five races and making it to the Championship race. Though he finished last among the Championship race competitors, Logano was able to back up Martin's statement from so many years prior and now appears to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.

And so far in 2015, Logano has two victories, including the biggest one of them all, the Daytona 500 back in February:

Fun Facts: Logano has appeared on television shows such as Man v. Food Nation, American Idol, and also made his first motion picture appearance in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!