Middletown native Joey Logano poses with the Harley J. Earl Trophy Sunday after winning his first Daytona 500 (Photo: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR)
It’s become an annual rite of winning NASCAR’s biggest event.
Win the Daytona 500 and it means a trip within a couple days afterward to run the gauntlet of media variety that is the ESPN campus in Bristol.
For most drivers, leaving Daytona to head for chilly Bristol, CT in February might seem a bit cruel. For Sunday’s Daytona 500 winner, it means the excitement of a trip home.
As part of the whirlwind NASCAR media celebration of winning the Daytona 500, Middletown native Joey Logano will spend a good portion of his day Tuesday at ESPN, making appearances with a variety of programs at the broadcast behemoth.
“Anytime you go up there to talk about something good, that’s a good thing for us,” Logano said Monday as he prepared for a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman in New York. “ESPN is really fun to do. It’s always relaxed and you can joke around and have some fun.”
The 24-year old Logano, in his seventh season running in NASCAR’s premier level Sprint Cup Series, is the first driver from Connecticut to win the Daytona 500 in the 57 year history of the event.
“I take a lot of pride in being from Connecticut,” Logano said. “It’s where my family is from, it’s where I was born and raised and it’s the place I call home. I look forward to going there [Tuesday] and going to Bristol and ESPN and get to be home for a little bit. I won’t be there very long but it will be good to be there.”
After having some time to celebrate his career defining victory Sunday evening with his family and team, Logano’s Monday and Tuesday plans were set by NASCAR to get the most exposure possible across a realm of media markets across the country.
Logano’s Monday began with a 7 a.m. interview on Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio and saw little break from there.
It was a day filled with satellite interviews with local television stations across the country and national cable broadcast outlets, phone interviews with print reporters and capped by the appearance with Letterman.
In addition to his appearances with ESPN Tuesday, Logano is also schedule for an appearance on the Today Show, an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show and numerous other interviews.
“I’m staying busy,” Logano said. “It’s a good problem to have, that’s for sure. It’s been a lot of fun so far. It’s been a whirlwind. We have not stopped. I haven’t even got to watch the race yet and get a chance to sit down and watch how it all happened. I don’t even know the schedule. They tell me where I’m going to be and I just go with it. It’s one thing to the next.”
And beyond the flood of media commitments, Logano still has to prepare to get back to work. The second event of the 36-race Sprint Cup Series schedule takes place Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Though Logano, who began his racing career at the Silver City Quarter Midget Club in Meriden, can go to Atlanta knowing that no matter what happens from here on out, he’ll be one of 16 drivers battling for a the Sprint Cup Series title when the Chase for the Championship begins in the 27th event of the season on Sept. 20 at Chicagoland Speedway. His victory Sunday made him the first driver to clinch a spot in the Chase field.
“You think about that for sure,” Logano said. “You still can’t get over the fact that you won the Daytona 500. But it is nice going into [the next race] to know that we’re in and we can race aggressively and have some fun. [Crew chief Todd Gordon] and I talked about it last night a little bit. We talked about how our sport is risk vs. reward a lot. Now we’ve lost a lot of risk and the rewards are still there. So now we can afford to race hard and take those chances.”
Logano was one of four drivers battling for the championship in the final race of the 2014 season.
“I think we’re coming off a strong year last year,” Logano said. “We won five races and almost won a championship. And here, we’re starting off this year on a good note. I don’t see anything bad coming from winning a Daytona 500. My goal is to go to Atlanta and win that one and keep winning from there on out. That’s my game plan.”
Calling Logano the pride of CT is like calling Jeff Gordon the pride of Indiana (or Cali). He moved out of the state at the age of 9, so it’s not correct to say he was even raised in CT.
If he would get lost trying to find the men’s room at Stafford, Thompson or Waterford, I don’t think race people in CT can claim “one of their own” just won the Daytona 500.
It’s sort of like reporters claiming to have interviewed someone for a big story when all they have are quotes from press releases.
The bottom line is he was born in Connecticut and spent half his childhood there. He also learned his fundamental racing skills running karts in Connecticut. Many athletes feel a sense of and also bring pride to their hometown/birthplace regardless of where they live now. He’ll always be a “Connecticut Kid”.
Actually he would return home all the time with his father who has places up here and would always do winters here so I’d say he is a local he raced a late model as well for a little bit here
You have no idea- where did he run a Late Model; it wasn’t at a CT short track?
He ran a cpl shows but not a ton. Stafford he ran and Thompson with k and n but Stafford with late model
Youhavenoidea,
Joey ran two short track events in his career in Connecticut. A K&N Pro Series East event at Thompson, and a K&N Pro Series East event at Stafford, both in 2007. He never ran any weekly division events, Late Model or otherwise, at any state short tracks. He was scheduled to run a Whelen Modified Tour race at Thompson Speedway on Aug. 16, 2007. He had to back out at the last minute because of a testing commitment with Joe Gibbs Racing. That turned out to be the evening of the tragic accident that took the life of John Blewett III.